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The latest safety incident to afflict the airline saw two Air France pilots suspended after fighting in the cockpit of an Airbus plane during a journey from Geneva to Paris. An airline spokesperson on Saturday verified a claim by the La Tribune newspaper and said the mid-air conflict happened in June.
The pilots are awaiting management’s judgment on their “completely improper behavior,” she said, adding that the matter was swiftly handled and the flight continued properly.
The information about the physical altercation was made public shortly after a report by France’s civil aviation safety investigation body, the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, was released on Tuesday. The report found that a string of mistakes at the French branch of Air France-KLM indicated “changes and even violations” of procedures that resulted in a reduction in safety margins. In response, the airline promised to conduct a safety audit and strengthen post-flight analyses.
The newspaper reported that in the June incident, a disagreement between the pilot and co-pilot got physical shortly after takeoff as the plane ascended, with the men grasping each other by the collars after one may have punched or slapped the other. One passenger spent the remainder of the flight in the flight deck when cabin crew heard a noise in the cockpit and interfered, according to La Tribune.
Because there were no repercussions for the flight, according to the BEA, it was not informed of the occurrence.
Energy Leak
The focus of Tuesday’s BEA study was on another Air France trip in December 2020 over Chad, when the pilots of an Airbus A330 discovered at cruising altitude that 1.4 tonnes of fuel were missing from the aircraft’s tanks. By not shutting down the leaky engine or choosing to touch down at the closest airfield, the crew disregarded safety procedures and increased the likelihood of a fire — midair or on landing — the study stated. The aircraft safely touched down.
Another “severe” in-flight incident involving Air France was the subject of an inquiry by the BEA in April.
When a pilot was heard claiming the jet was “going nuts,” the pilots of a Boeing 777 aeroplane aborted a landing at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport and informed air traffic controllers that the aircraft was unresponsive during the approach. The second attempt at landing was successful for the New York-bound aeroplane.
