Uan internal investigation at the national company made it possible to avoid creating a no fly zone moreover with the flight over the Red Sea. This obligatory passage of direct flights from France to Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar and Nairobi required a bypass with an additional hour and fifteen minutes of flight time. This measure, which had not been followed by Air Austral, Corsair or French Bee, has just been lifted today. It was taken when, on Sunday, November 3, the crew of an Air France Paris-Antananarivo flight saw a luminous object that could resemble a ballistic missile flying above Sudan at high altitude.
Two planes had turned around
AF934 had turned around, as had AF814 Paris-Nairobi, the planes returning to Roissy-CDG. Could Houthi attacks in the Red Sea affect air transport activity after maritime traffic? These Yemeni rebels target civilian or military ships using the Red Sea, significantly disrupting maritime routes that use the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal.
ALSO READ Why Yemen's Houthi rebels threaten global maritime trade
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
Faced with the silence of the supervisory aeronautical authorities (Civil Aviation Risk Analysis Center), it was not possible to decide between a natural phenomenon (shooting star) or the entry of a satellite into the atmosphere. At Air France, management had already been burned by another event on 1is october. A plane leaving Roissy-CDG for Dubai flew over Iraqi territory at the time when Iran launched its missile attack towards Israel. The crew saw the machines crossing its path. The civilian aircraft took the regulatory route, known as the Iraqi corridor, which avoids overflight of Israel and Iran.
Nearly a quarter of the globe is no longer flyable since the ban on Russia, the conflict zone in Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Air routes to Asia are becoming more and more complex and lengthened by various restrictions. In Africa, if flying over Mali is permitted, Air France service is not authorized and Corsair must charter a foreign company because it cannot find willing pilots to go to Bamako. Libya remains closed to commercial aircraft.
What threats to airliners
International aeronautical authorities classify risks according to different categories of missiles and devices. When cruising, airliners fly at more than 10,000 meters (level 320).
- The most common are Manpads which are worn on the shoulder. They are easily found on the black market but they do not exceed level 100. On the other hand, they can be dangerous when taking off and landing an aircraft near an aerodrome.
- Surface-to-air missiles remain below level 320.
- Drones do not exceed level 150.
- Ballistic missiles take off and climb to 100 or 150 km altitude before falling. Two trajectories to avoid…
