[Speedbird189]

Several French media sources and English-language newspapers are reporting that at least 40 Air France aircraft have been ‘sabotaged’ at CDG airport.

Reportedly, Arabic writing and the Islamist phrase “Allahu Akbar” were scrawled over the fuel tanks of Air France sircraft across the airport. As a result of this development, one Air France flight crew refused to depart CDG on that particular aircraft affected.

In addition, a number of entertainment systems were also altered to denote Palestine and Islamic State territory on the inflight maps.

Most worringly of all, there is evidence that the suspects tampered wih the aircraft’s vital systems including the engine control system and the fly-by-wire system connecting the cockpit control compter to physical movements on the aircraft. This
leads to suspicion that Islamists work in Air France or have somehow infiltrated CDG airport.

This development comes as terrorism remains a major basis of investigation and Paris struggles after the Paris attacks of 2015.

Concerning.

[Charles-P]

From French Media:

France’s national carrier Air France has been forced to condemn media reports that claimed radicalized staff had tried to sabotage planes and had scrawled “Allahu Akbar” on dozens of aircraft.

Airline chiefs hit back after a report in the satirical weekly Canard Enchainé newspaper claiming that French intelligence staff had raised the alarm following a series of incidents involving Air France passenger planes at Charles de Gaulle airport.

The most worrying were claims that radicalized staff had interfered with communication between the cockpit and the engines on several aircraft.

And the paper also claimed that around 40 planes were daubed with the words “Allahu Akbar”, which means “God is the Greatest” in Arabic, on their fuel caps.

The discovery of one of these tags led to one pilot refusing to take off, the paper claimed.

The newspaper also alleged that a member of ground staff refused to help guide a plane on the tarmac because the pilot was a woman.

The reports were picked up by several other French news sites, but prompted Air France to dismiss the story as “false information” and “unfounded rumours”.

“No malicious act on a commercial Air France flight has ever been confirmed or even identified,” said the company.

Air France sources told L’Express newspaper that the “Allahu Akbar” tags were written on to aircraft during stopovers in North African countries and not Paris.

A source at the airline also told L’Express there had been no major incident, only “marginal incidents linked to behavioural problems.”

The airline also described the story about the male member of staff refusing to guide a female pilot as an “urban legend”.

The question of security among Air France workers and Paris airport staff is however not new.

[Cloud-9]

Sadly not the first time.
A similar isolated incident happened just after 9/11.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/air-france-plane-aborts-take-off-after-bin-laden-graffiti-found-1.71716?v=85F1C66FD19517F5CC37A9995159CC61

[canucklad]

In a way it’s re-assuring that AF understand the situation they’re in. regardless of their rhetoric when challenged.

What puts a shiver down my spine is the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know.
Are there highly motivated individuals in our organizations that are working their way up the ladder to trusted and highly responsible positions, with access to critical equipment and areas?

And the simple answer is we don’t know, and won’t know until the atrocity is carried out.

Sadly the scenario I’ve described above potentially increases suspicion and as a consequence we’ve allowed the terrorist thugs to win another small part of whom we are as a society.

[JohnHarper]

I suspect that you are right canucklad and somehow I doubt that it is only Air France who have these problems. Somehow I suspect that other western airlines have some long serving staff who are buried deep now but on the day there will be some horrific outcome as a direct result of their presence.

[christopheL]

This “concerning developments” are part of the political campaigns which are ongoing in France especially the right wing “primaire” in which Nicolas Sarkozy is mimicking Marine Le Pen in a desesperate attempt to be the candidate of the right wing at the forthcoming presidential election. He his a kind of French Donald Trump…

[Author]

Posts