Air France Flight Averts Disaster, Sparks Investigation

Photo by Léonard Cotte on UnsplashLéonard Cotte on Unsplash

French aviation investigators are investigating an April 5, 2022 incident involving an Air France Boeing 777. The aircraft, according to one pilot, was "kind of out of control."

The BEA, a French bureau that investigates aviation safety, cites an "instability of flight controls" in their April 6 tweet.

Flight 11 flew from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The plane attempted to land after the seven-hour flight, where passengers experienced several jolts before the pilots aborted the first attempted landing and performed a go-around. The plane landed smoothly during the second attempt.

During the initial landing, the plane did not respond to controls and began to deviate to the left side. A recording of the cockpit captures a startled flight crew managing the incident.

The cockpit footage can be heard on AirLive. Alarms can be heard going off as the pilot says, "“The airplane is pretty much going nuts.” An air traffic controller replies with, “I’ve seen on the radar, it swayed to the left.”

The first attempted landing was stopped once the plane reached 1200 feet, and was taken up to an altitude of 4000 feet before the second attempt.

A spokesperson for Air France has stated that they are grateful for the safe landing and regret the inconvenience caused to passengers.

Boeing has been the subject of scrutiny following two crashes of its 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019. Boeing has yet to comment on the incident at the time of this publishing.

BEA will be analyzing the flight data in their investigation.