Air France pilots suspended after mid-air cockpit fight

TWO Air France pilots have been suspended after coming to blows in the cockpit mid-air.

A dispute between the captain and co-pilot broke out during a flight from Geneva to Paris in June, La Tribune reported.

The punch-up was the latest in a string of incidents that have raised concerns over safety at one of the world’s largest airlines.

Cabin crew were forced to break up the cockpit altercation, which began shortly after takeoff. One of the pilots remained on the flight deck for the rest of the journey.

A spokesman for the airline described the fight as “totally inappropriate behaviour” but said the row was resolved quickly.

Details of the incident emerged just days after a report by France’s civil aviation safety authority, the Bureau d’enquetes et d’analyses (BEA), found that Air France crews sometimes ignored safety rules.

In one incident in December 2020, the captain of an Airbus A330 failed to follow standard procedure when he neglected to shut down an engine after a serious fuel leak.

The aircraft, which was flying to Paris from Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, was forced to make an emergency landing in Chad, where the runway was too short for the aircraft. The BEA report said the engine shutdown was “deliberately omitted by the crew”.

“This decision created a major risk of fire and led to a major reduction of the safety of the flight because fire was avoided by luck,” it said.

The BEA report highlighted “a recurrence of investigations … showing an adaptation of procedures, even a deliberate

‘A repeat of investigations … show an adaptation of procedures leading to reduced safety margins’

violation of them leading to reduced safety margins”.

In response to the report, Air France pledged to carry out a safety audit.

In April this year, the BEA opened an investigation into the cause of another “serious” incident involving Air France.

The pilots of a Boeing 777 arriving in Paris from New York were forced to abort their attempt to land after the controls apparently malfunctioned with one of the pilots heard saying: “The aeroplane is pretty much going nuts.” The plane landed safely on a second attempt.