what really happened?

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Before the terrified eyes of passengers, a ball of fire burst from one of the engines of an Air France Airbus A320. What exactly happened? Saturday, December 20 in the evening, the aircraft had been flying at an altitude of 12,000 meters for 37 minutes when, suddenly, vibrations and violent shaking occurred in the cabin. Passengers saw flames near the left engine. This is an engine pump, an air lock inside the reactor. “The plane, never again. I was scared of my life. I really thought I would die”confides a passenger.

So, is the incident rare? Precedents have already taken place, such as an A330 in Zurich in 2001, or more recently, a Boeing 737 in Hawaii. Relatively frequent incidents, which can be controlled by reducing engine power. Problem: in the case of the A320 aircraft, this did not seem to be enough, according to experts. “This type of pumping failure happens much more frequently during takeoff. We have approximately one incident of this type per week,” indicates Gérard Feldzer, former airline pilot, president of Aviation Sans Frontières.

In the event of an incident, what are the procedures? Pilots train to handle these events in simulators. A mandatory exercise several times a year. “We do exactly the same kind of breakdown so that on the big day, if it happens like what happened, the pilots will be ready,” assures Roxanne Marcel, airline pilot, instructor at AviaSim. In the case of the A320 aircraft, the 172 passengers were diverted to Lyon (Rhône). Emergency landing and no injuries.