The moment when the controls of a plane about to land in Paris fail and what the pilots did to prevent a tragedy

The pilots of Air France flight AF011 from New York to Paris suffered a technical failure when they were arriving at their destination, forcing the crew to take emergency measures before landing at Charles De Gaulle Airport.

After the aircraft descended 1,200 feet (366 meters), it stopped responding due to a “technical incident” and the pilots did not know if their landing sequence could land the plane safely, a company spokesman told the Daily Mail.

Air France's Boeing 777 license plate F-GSQJ took off from New York International Airport (JFK) at 21:15 LT on 4 April to fulfill flight AF11 to Paris. The flight proceeded without major problems and after 05:10am, the aircraft began to descend, but it was on the final approach to runway 26L that the alerts began to sound in the flight deck.

The audio recordings broadcast show how the cockpit tries to avoid a life-threatening situation amid the pilots' panic. Cab alarms can be heard at full volume in the recording.

“We turned around following a problem with the commands. The plane did not respond,” a pilot of the plane later explained to the Daily Mail.

The US news network Fox News explained that the pilots moved away from the track, temporarily ascended and attempted a TOGA, acronym in English for a maneuver known in Spanish as “engine and air”, which crews are trained to carry out in case of extreme need. TOGA corresponds to “Take Off/Go Around” and consists of a frustrated landing in which an approach is not completed, so it is said that it is powered and returned to the air. This was done while air traffic control suspended flights at Paris airport.

“We are ready to resume the final approach with radar guidance. Please give us time to handle the situation, then guide us with a tailwind,” the pilot added in the recording, according to the report.

The airline spokesman said that “Crews are trained and regularly instructed in these procedures, which are used by all airlines to ensure the safety of flights and passengers, which is an absolute necessity for Air France.”

“Air France confirms that the crew of flight AF011 on April 4, 2022 from New York JFK to Paris-CDG aborted its landing sequence and performed an engine and air maneuver due to a technical incident during the approach,” explained the Air France spokesman.

The aircraft involved in this incident is a Boeing 777-300ER registered F-GSQJ that is 17 years old and was handed over to Air France in 2005 who named it Strasbourg.

KEEP READING: