Air France ensured to take into account all the recommendations of the report, specifying that some were already implemented
Le Monde with AFP
The Office of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), the French authority responsible for Aircraft accidents, published a severe report for Air France.
This BEA report published Tuesday, August 23 is concerned with “a certain culture installed in certain Air France crews which promotes a propensity to underestimate the contribution of a strict application of the procedures for safety” And calls on the French airline to “submit compliance with procedures at the center of company security culture”.
The BEA relies on an incident on December 31, 2020 during a flight between Brazzaville (Congo) and Paris aboard an Airbus A330. A fuel leak detected at cruise altitude led the crew to confuse to N’Djamena airport (Chad) but without observing the “Fuel Leak” security procedure which provides the engine cutting on the leak side .
📄 (1/2) Investigation report on the incident of @Airbus #A330 F-GZCJ operated by @Airfrancefr occurred on 31/12/2020… https://t.co/6fxy p>- bea_aero (@Bea ✈️ ⚙️🔬🇫🇷)
“The engine cut (…) was voluntarily omitted by the crew,” observes the report. “This decision has thus created a significant risk of fire and caused a significant decrease in the safety margin of the flight, the fire having been avoided by luck,” continues the BEA.
If the organization highlights the “extremely limited” number of Air France flights giving rise to surveys, it says it has observed “through a certain number of recent surveys (…) that the crews concerned had been able ( …) Free yourself to perform certain procedures in a compliant way “.
The BEA cites for example two incidents, the 28 and 30 March 2017 , during which the same crew made a climb In too fast flight. In another incident, September 12, 2020, an Airbus A318 ” S ‘is freed from operational procedures in order to carry out a quick arrival on track in Paris-Orly “. “During the final approach, the crew had very few resources to deal with a possible unforeseen event,” insists the BEA.
surprising sentences in the operating manual
The investigation office wonders about certain sentences in the Air France driver manual such as: “knows how to deviate from procedures in consultation with the crew when required” or “improvises Faced with the unpredictable to obtain the safest result “. “The BEA considers that Air France should provide compliance with the procedures at the Center for the Safety Culture of the Company,” advises the office of inquiry.
Air France assured the France-Presse agency to take into account all the recommendations of the report, adding that some were already implemented. The company undertakes for example to “provide the pilots with tools allowing them to replay and analyze their flights”, as recommended by the BEA. Air France also affirms that an audit will be engaged in a few months “within the whole company” in order to “complete if necessary certain analyzes of this report”.