Inquiry highlights pilots’ lack of activity before unstable Air France A318 approach incident

French investigators believe the pilots of an Air France Airbus A318 unnecessarily took the opportunity to shorten an approach to Paris Orly, placing them under time pressure and resulting in an unstable descent that triggered ground-proximity alarms. The inquiry has highlighted the possible effect of reduced flying activity by the crew, notably skill erosion, over the six months prior to the incident on 12 September 2020. French investigation authority BEA says the crew of the aircraft, heading north-east as it arrived from Biarritz, accepted a shortened trajectory to runway 25 involving a left turn to head west. After completing the turn, the crew was cleared for the ILS approach at 5,900ft. The shortened approach left the A318 above the correct profile and the crew carried out a series of actions to bring the altitude into line with the glideslope. It was established on the localiser and glideslope, about 6nm from the runway and 2,000ft above airport level, but still in clean configuration – against the requirements of standard operating procedures. Story has more technical details.<br/>