Question: is it possible that the gauge was detecting overheating not of the incoming air (incorrect) but of the engine itself, that the maintenance staff failed to notice anything wrong with the engine and so (wrongly) declared the gauge faulty and disabled it? A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
The story now is ...
They can't possibly know the triggering event at this stage of the investigation, way too early.
I presume they've collected the 'Black Box' Flight Data Recorder and are doing preliminary analysis of the information. However, that only gives the data the avionic system was passing around and what the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer were seeing/saying.
Important Point: the FDR does not give the actual state and condition of the mechanics of the airplane but only what the avionics thought their condition was. That thermometer was doing what a thermometer does: record temperature. WHAT was causing the temperature rise will not be known until the US NSTB and Spanish authorities reassemble the bits and pieces of the plane and conduct a visual inspection and analysis. A doo run-run-run, a doo run-run
