Two Air France pilots were suspended after an altercation in the cockpit of an Airbus jetliner during a flight between Geneva and Paris, the airline’s latest safety issue.
According to a spokeswoman for the carrier on Saturday, the mid-air dispute occurred in June, confirming a report by La Tribune newspaper.
The incident was quickly resolved, and the flight continued normally, she said, adding that the pilots are awaiting management’s decision on their “totally inappropriate behaviour.”
The physical altercation comes on the heels of a report released Tuesday by France’s civil aviation safety investigation authority, the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, which concluded that a series of lapses at Air France-French KLM’s arm pointed to “changes and even violations” of procedures, leading to a narrowing of safety margins. The airline responded by promising to conduct a safety audit and improve post-flight analyses.
According to the newspaper report, a disagreement between the pilot and co-pilot turned physical shortly after takeoff as the plane gained altitude, with the men taking each other by the collars after one possibly hit or slapped the other.
According to La Tribune, cabin crew heard noises in the cockpit, intervened, and one member spent the rest of the flight on the flight deck.
The BEA stated that it was not notified of the incident because the flight had no consequences.
Fuel Leak
Tuesday’s BEA report focused on another Air France flight during which pilots of an Airbus A330 travelling over Chad in December 2020 detected at cruising altitude that 1.4 tonnes of fuel was missing from the plane’s tanks. The crew skirted safety procedures and increased risks of a fire — midair or on landing — by not shutting down the leaking engine or opting to touch down at the closest airport, the report concluded. The aircraft landed safely.
In April, the BEA launched an investigation into the cause of another “serious” Air France in-flight incident.
After telling air traffic controllers that the plane was unresponsive during the approach, pilots of a Boeing 777 airliner aborted a landing at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. On its second attempt, the flight from New York landed safely.
