PARIS — Two Air France pilots have been suspended after bodily combating within the cockpit on a Geneva-Paris flight in June, an Air France official mentioned Sunday.
The flight continued and landed safely, and the dispute didn’t have an effect on the remainder of the flight, the official mentioned, stressing the airline’s dedication to security.
Switzerland’s La Tribune reported that the pilot and co-pilot had a dispute shortly after takeoff, and grabbed one another by their collars after one apparently hit the opposite. Cabin crew intervened and one crew member spent the flight within the cockpit with the pilots, the report mentioned.
Information of the combat emerged after France’s air investigation company, BEA, issued a report Wednesday saying that some Air France pilots lack rigor in respecting procedures throughout security incidents.
It targeted on a gasoline leak on an Air France flight from Brazzaville within the Republic of Congo to Paris in December 2020, when pilots rerouted the airplane however didn’t reduce energy to the engine or land as quickly as potential, as leak process requires. The airplane landed safely in Chad, however the BEA report warned that the engine may have caught fireplace.
It talked about three related circumstances between 2017 and 2022, and mentioned some pilots are performing based mostly on their very own evaluation of the state of affairs as a substitute of security protocols.
Air France mentioned it’s finishing up a security audit in response. It pledged to comply with the BEA’s suggestions, which embrace permitting pilots to review their flights afterward and making coaching manuals stricter about sticking to process.
The airline famous that it flies hundreds of flights day by day and the report mentions solely 4 such security incidents.
Air France pilots unions have insisted that safety is paramount to all pilots and defended pilot actions throughout emergency conditions.
The BEA additionally investigated an incident in April involving an Air France flight from New York’s JFK airport that suffered flight management issues on method to its touchdown in Paris.
