Air France Airbus A330 Diverts With Smell Of Smoke In Cockpit

On September 21st, an Air France Airbus A330-200 taking off from Paris Charles de Gaulle had to stop its climb about 10 minutes after becoming airborne. Prompted by the smell of smoke in the cockpit, the crew made the decision to return to the airport to deal with the abnormality. A Boeing 777-200 was dispatched as the flight’s replacement aircraft.

Incident details

The incident involves an A330-200 operated by Air France. Registered F-GZCA, the aircraft was performing flight AF912 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to the capital of the West African nation of Cameroon, Yaoundé (YAO).

Per FlightRadar24.com data, the aircraft departed at 16:32 local time, climbing out of Paris’ runway 26R. The Aviation Herald reported that the crew soon began to smell smoke in the cockpit – a smell that was electrical in nature. As a result, the climb was stopped at FL165 (approximately 16,500 feet).

Photo: FlightRadar24.com

A diversion back to CDG was initiated, with the jet flying a large circle around the outskirts of southeast Paris. The aircraft landed safely on CDG’s runway 26R at approximately 17:02, 30 minutes after departure.

Airline recovery

Air France dispatched a Boeing 777-200 (registration F-GSPN) to replace the incident A330-200, although affected passengers would have to wait for some time to get to their destination. This recovery aircraft departed the next day at 17:03, arriving six hours later at 22:06 local time. This is approximately 24 hours after the original scheduled arrival time. But, with Air France operating its AF912 service five times per week, this flight on September 22nd would have otherwise not occurred.

Photo: Telsek | Shutterstock.com

While Air France has deployed the Airbus A330-200 on this route for the majority of the summer, the airline has also deployed the Boeing 777-200ER extensively for the service. The Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A350-900 have also made rare appearances over the past few months.

Incident aircraft details

The occurrence aircraft, F-GZCA, spent about 21 hours on the ground before returning to service. Its first post-incident flight took it to Abuja, Nigeria, and onwards to N’Djamena, in Chad. This triangle route is completed with a return flight to Paris.

F-GZCA is now a little over 22 years of age. While it was the first A330-200 to be registered with the airline, it was Air France’s second-ever A330-200 to be delivered, coming in just a few days after F-GZCB. The website also notes that its current market value sits at $12.55 million. As of June 30th, 2023, the jet had amassed 84,977 flight hours across 13,611 cycles.

ch-aviation.com lists the jet as having an estimated retirement date of December 2024. Air France – and its parent company, the Air France-KLM Group, are expected to place a sizeable aircraft order in the near future to replace its older widebodies. This includes Air France’s 15 A330-200s.

What do you think the A330-200 fleet will be replaced with? Could this finally be Airbus’ big A330-800 order? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!

Sources: Planespotters.net, FlightRadar24.com, ch-aviation.com, The Aviation Herald