WASHINGTON -The US lawsuits filed in Illinois and California, copies of which were obtained by AFP on Sunday, name as defendants Airbus and a number of companies that make airplane instruments, including General Electric, Motorola and Intel.

Flight 447 crashed sometime shortly after takeoff on May 31, killing all 228 people on board. Investigators are still probing the reasons for the crash, which happened in the Atlantic, some 680 miles (1,094 kilometers) off Brazil's coast.

The lawsuit filed in Illinois alleges negligence and products liability on the parts of Airbus and the makers of various instruments used on the flight.

"As a direct and proximate result of defendants' negligence, the subject aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, killing plaintiffs' decedents, causing severe terror and pain prior to impact, and resulting in both personal and pecuniary injuries," the lawsuit says.

The amount of compensation the families are seeking is not specified.

France's air accident investigation agency is still looking into the causes of the crash, but reports have suggested that faulty equipment could have been a key factor.

In addition to faulty weather sensors, investigators have looked at the pitot tubes that provide speed information, which reportedly had a tendency to become blocked on the type of aircraft involved in the crash.

Other companies named in the lawsuit include Honeywell International, Thales Group, Rockwell Collins, Hamilton Sunstrand, Goodrich, Dupont, Judd Wire and Raychem.