Switzerland’s La Tribune reported that the pilot and co-pilot had an argument shortly after takeoff and grabbed each other by the collars after one apparently hit the other. The cabin crew intervened and a crew member walked the Geneva to Paris flight into the cockpit with the pilots, the report said. A spokesman for the France-based carrier said the altercation was “completely inappropriate behaviour”. The flight continued and landed safely, the official said, emphasizing the airline’s commitment to safety after several recent incidents that alerted regulators. Details of the fight emerged days after France’s aviation investigation agency, BEA, issued a report saying some Air France pilots sometimes ignored safety rules. It focused on a fuel leak on an Airbus A33 flight from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo to Paris in December 2020, when the crew risked starting an engine fire with 136 people on board. The pilots changed the plane’s course, but did not cut power to the engine or land as soon as possible, as the spill procedure requires. The plane landed safely at N’Djamena airport in Chad, but the BEA report warned that the fuel leak could have ignited and ignited the engine. “The fire was avoided by luck,” investigators said. The report covered three similar cases between 2017 and 2022 and said some pilots neglected standard safety precautions and relied on their own risk analysis. Air France said it was carrying out a security audit in response. He pledged to follow the BEA’s recommendations, which include allowing pilots to study their flights afterward and tightening training manuals on following the procedure. The airline noted that it flies thousands of flights every day and the report mentions only four such safety incidents. Leaked plane headed for N’Djamena International Airport in Chad (Getty) Air France pilot unions insisted that safety is paramount for all pilots and defended the pilots’ actions in emergency situations. The BEA also investigated an incident in April involving an Air France flight from New York’s JFK airport that experienced flight control problems on approach to land in Paris. The pilots of the Boeing 777 were forced to abort an attempt to land at Charles de Gaulle airport after they told air traffic controllers that the aircraft was unresponsive. In cockpit audio from the incident, a pilot was heard saying: “The plane is pretty much crazy.” The flight landed safely after circling to approach the runway again.
