An Air France Boeing 777 from New York nearly crashed when landing at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport. The aircraft no longer reacted to the pilots’ commands during the final approach. What do we know about this incident, which could have turned into a tragedy? The Dispatch make the point.
“We went over the gas, 4,000 feet, we will maintain them, we will call you back”. The voice of the pilot of this Air France Boeing 777-300ER coming from New York is panicked. And for good reason, as the plane began its landing above Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, the pilots lost control of the aircraft. Forced to go around, they manage to right the plane and narrowly avoid the crash. But what really happened during the flight? The Dispatch make the point.
A smooth flight
The Air France Boeing 777 registered F-GSQJ, operating flight AF011 on Tuesday April 5, arrived from New York after a 7:30 flight. He reported to land facing west on runway 26L at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, a runway located the most southerly of the airport platform. So far, the flight has gone smoothly: the plane took off a few hours earlier from JFK airport in New York at 8:51 p.m., with an advance of 9 minutes. The next day, despite the maneuvers of the pilots, he landed right on time at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, around 10:15 a.m.
Arrived above the Paris region, its landing plan normally passes by a road a little south of Beauvais then north of Senlis and CDG airport. After a 180 degree turn over the Aisne department, about 60 km east of the arrival airport, the aircraft lines up with the ILS (Instrument Landing System) of runway 26L, a means of radio-navigation used for the precision approach. This information is sent to the autopilot, which manages the landing due to bad weather. The weather is indeed unfavorable. The pilots also have low visibility due to heavy fog and only have 3000 meters of visibility.
Loss of control
On final approach to Paris airport, the Boeing 777 no longer reacted to the pilots’ commands, for an unknown reason. It was shortly after the dialogue with the control tower controller that a first alarm sounded, accompanied by the exclamation “Stop, stop” from one of the pilots. The air traffic controller then tries to reach the cockpit. But the plane no longer seems to respond to the controls. One of the pilots calls out to the tower: “I’ll call you back”. The recording of the exchange broadcast by the YouTube channel AIRLIVE, testifies to the stress of the pilots. You can hear them struggling with the controls.
The controller, who then realized that the flight was experiencing a major problem, ordered another AFHW aircraft, then in initial climb, to stop it at 1500 feet, so as not to interfere with AF011. At the same time, the Boieng 777 – which lost about 800 meters in altitude in 3 minutes – indicated that it had overshot. The aircraft was then at an altitude of only 1,200 feet (about 370 m).
Air France Boeing 777-300 (F-GSQJ, built 2005) was on final approach to runway 26L at Paris-CGD Intl Airport (LFPG) when the pilots reported control issues. Flight # AF11 from New York went around and returned for a safe landing about 20 minutes later. pic.twitter.com/zbgxSHkPjZ
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) April 5, 2022
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“A problem with the flight controls, the plane has done anything wrong”, reports the pilot at that time, who requests “radar guidance with a very long tailwind, the time to manage the situation”. Response from the air traffic controller: “I saw on the radar that it was going left”. The crew requested a change of runway for 27R, the most northerly of the airport, opposite to the initially planned runway 26L.
The crew managed to get the plane to regain altitude at 4,000 feet (1.2 km) in order to make a new loop north of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport to land this time safely on the runway 27R where the Boeing touched the tarmac around 10:15.
Air France confirms this in a reaction sent to The Dispatch that “the crew of flight AF011 on April 4, 2022 connecting New York-JFK to Paris-CDG in B777 interrupted their landing sequence and carried out a go-around during the approach to Paris-Charles de Gaulle”. The national company explains that “the crew landed the aircraft normally after a second approach” and “understands and regrets the discomfort that may have been felt by customers”.
The go-around and landing can be seen on the route flown by the aircraft and on the altitude tracker published on the tracker Flightaware.
The trajectory and altitudes of flight AF011 on Tuesday April 5, 2022.
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An open investigation
This Wednesday, April 6, the BEA (Bureau of Investigations and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety) announces in a press release to open “a security investigation”. It details a “serious incident”, with “flight control instability on final, go-around, harsh controls and trajectory oscillations”.
u26a0ufe0f (1/2) Incident grave du @BoeingFrance #777 @AirFranceFR registered F-GSQJ on 05/04/22 at @ParisAeroport #CDG / Instability of flight controls on final, go-around, harshness of controls and trajectory oscillations / @BEA_Aero initiates a security investigation.
— BEA u2708ufe0f u2699ufe0fud83dudd2cud83cuddebud83cuddf7 (@BEA_Aero) April 6, 2022
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The data recovered on Tuesday and Wednesday are “being analyzed”, specifies the BEA. For the time being, the reasons for this theft incident remain unknown. Until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, the Air France Boeing 777 F-GSQJ will remain grounded.
According to Air France, “the go-around is defined by the authorities, the aeronautical manufacturers and Air France as a normal procedure which goes in the direction of safety. The crews are trained and regularly practiced in these procedures practiced by all the airlines in order to guarantee the safety of flights and passengers, which are absolute imperatives for Air France”.
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