What happened
On 16 September 2018, an Air France Boeing 777-328ER, registered F-GSQL, was performing a scheduled flight from Sir Seewoosagron Ramgoolam Airport in Mauritius to Paris-Charles de Gaulle. During the takeoff roll, an in-flight retail trolley weighing approximately 80 kg became unlatched from its stowage in galley G0. The trolley rolled down the right-hand aisle, striking several passengers. One passenger, seated in 25K, sustained a serious facial injury when the trolley struck them. In total, eight passengers sustained slight injuries and one passenger was seriously injured.
The investigation
The BEA investigation revealed that the aircraft used for this flight was a replacement for the originally scheduled aircraft due to an operational contingency. This change led to a different cabin configuration, which was communicated incorrectly by the Operations Control Centre (OCC) after a controller misread the configuration catalogue.
Because the new configuration was not available on the cabin crew's tablets, the crew only discovered the updated roles and passenger counts upon boarding the aircraft. The investigation found that the crew was heavily preoccupied with managing a high volume of upgraded business class passengers and correcting catering loading errors. Due to the pressure to maintain passenger service levels and the disorganized state of the cabin loading, the crew member responsible for the forward galley was unable to perform a final check of the trolley's locking mechanism before takeoff. Furthermore, the crew bypassed standard reporting procedures, with the chief purser sending a "cabin ready" message before all crew members had reached their stations and secured their areas.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was that the in-flight retail trolley was not secured in its stowage slot.
- An error by the OCC in communicating the incorrect aircraft configuration led to an unexpected workload, including a high number of business class upgrades and mismatched catering.
- High passenger service demands and the need to reorganize galley equipment during the boarding phase distracted the crew from essential safety checks.
- The lack of access to digital flight documents prior to boarding prevented the crew from preparing for the modified cabin configuration in advance.
- Non-standard communication procedures, specifically the premature announcement of a "cabin ready" status, contributed to the failure to verify the galley was secure.