A pair of pilots have been suspended following a mid-flight fight in the cockpit of an Air France plane.
The pilots reportedly exchanged blows during a flight between Geneva and Paris in June.
Shortly after takeoff, cabin personnel heard the conflict before breaking it up. One pilot remained in the flight deck for the remainder of the voyage.
The reason for the fight is unclear, but a spokesperson for the airline referred to it as “totally inappropriate behavior,”. The airline is investigating the pilots.
Air France has experienced increased scrutiny for safety malpractices over the past few months.
France’s civil aviation safety investigation authority, the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, found the Paris-based airline has overlooked and violated safety procedures on multiple occasions — including a 2020 flight in which personnel discovered after take-off that the airplane’s tank was short 1.4 tons of fuel.
The BEA report cites a “recurrence of investigations […] showing an adaptation of procedures, even a deliberate violation of them leading to a reduction [of] safety margins”.
