Dylan Bettencourt
Two pilots have been suspended after the pair let punches fly at one another on an Air France flight from Paris to Geneva.
Fighting amongst passengers has become almost a norm on many flights. But a brawl between pilots while the plane is in the air, is almost unheard of.
The altercation arose after the co-pilot refused to carry out instructions given to him by the captain.
One of the pilots landed a blow to the other and they began grabbing each other’s collars while still trying to control the Airbus A320, according to The Times.
Reports suggest one of the pilots threw a clipboard, described as “heavy”, into the face of his colleague.
The cabin crew heard the noise and barged into the cockpit but by then the pair were already cooling down.
As a precaution, however, one of the cabin attendants babysat the two pilots to ensure they did not get grumpy for a second time. The flight landed without issue a few hours later.
Air France said the behaviour of the pilots was “totally inappropriate” and that it had yet to decide on the fate of the pair.
The incident happened in June but has just come to light after the airline was accused, by the state air accident and safety agency – the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses (BEA), of tolerating a rule-breaking culture in pilots.
The BEA charged that crew members were putting flights in danger by “exempting themselves” from the rules.
The agency used four cases to make their point, including one crew flying over Africa that failed to shut down a jet engine despite thousands of litres of fuel leaking inside the wing.
Air France responded by establishing a safety audit and promised to follow the rules from now on but insisted the examples from the BEA represented a tiny fraction of its flights.
“Like many other elements, these recommendations will feed into the continuous process of improving the airline’s flight safety,” Air France said.
Image source: @HospitalityON
