The French authority in charge of investigating air accidents published a severe report on Tuesday in which it highlights the recurrence of incidents during which Air France crews ignored safety regulations.
This report from the Bureau of Research and Analysis (BEA) is concerned about “a certain culture established among certain Air France crews that favors a tendency to underestimate the contribution of a strict application of procedures for safety” and asks the airline that “to put procedural compliance back at the center of the company’s safety culture.
An uplifting episode dated December 31, 2020
The BEA is based on an incident that occurred on December 31, 2020 during a flight between Brazzaville (Congo) and Paris on board an Airbus A330. A fuel leak detected at cruising altitude led the crew to divert to the N’Djamena airport (Chad), but without observing the “FUEL LEAK” safety procedure, which provides for the engine to be cut on the side of the leak.
“The engine cutoff (…) was intentionally omitted by the crew,” the report notes. “This decision thus created a significant risk of fire and led to a significant reduction in the safety margin of the flight, the fire having been avoided by chance,” continues the BEA.
Surveys that remain rare
While the organization emphasizes the “extremely limited” number of Air France flights that gave rise to investigations, it says it has observed “through a number of recent investigations… that the crews in question had been able to… .) be freed from carrying out certain procedures in a compatible way”.
The BEA cites, for example, a double incident on March 28 and 30, 2017 during which the same crew ascended too quickly in flight. On September 12, 2020, an Airbus A318 “was exempted from operating procedures to achieve a rapid arrival on the Paris-Orly runway”. “During the final approach, the crew had very few resources to deal with a possible unforeseen event,” insists the BEA.
An audit started in the coming months
The investigation office wonders about certain phrases that appear in the Air France pilots’ operations manual such as: “knows how to deviate from procedures in consultation with the crew when safety requires it” or “improvises in the face of the unpredictable to obtain the safest way. result’.
Air France assured AFP that it will take into account all the report’s recommendations, adding that some have already been implemented. The company is committed, for example, to “provide pilots with tools that allow them to reproduce and analyze their flights”, as recommended by the BEA.
Air France also states that an audit will be launched in a few months “on the whole of the company” to “complete, if necessary, certain analyzes of this report.”
Source: BFM TV
