Air France AF446 Paris-St. Maarten Declares Emergency, Diverts to Gander
In the last hour or so, Air France flight AF446 between Paris and St. Maarten diverted and landed into Gander following an emergency declaration.
Information is limited surrounding the incident, but below is what we know on this so far.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Emergency!: Air France AF446 Paris-St. Maarten…
Air France flight AF446, which declared the emergency and diverted to Gander, is a routine scheduled flight between Paris & St. Maarten.
Furthermore, the aircraft involved in the incident was F-GZCM.
As per data from Planespotters.net, F-GZCM is a 21.1 year old Airbus A330-200 that was delivered to the airline in January 2004.
Of the A330-200 variant, the French carrier has 11 of them in their fleet.
Moreover, of the 11, all but one are in active service, with an average age of 22.2 years.
Air France flight AF446, which declared the emergency and diverted to Gander, departed Paris CDG at 1002 local time earlier today.
The Airbus A330 was quite a way over the Atlantic Ocean towards it’s destination, when it suddenly deviated north towards Canada.
From there, the aircraft landed safely into Gander after around nine and a half hours in the air.
The Reason for the Diversion into Gander?
At this stage, the official cause of the emergency diversion involving Air France flight AF446 Paris-St. Maarten has not been confirmed.
Furthermore, AirLive is reporting that it is a possible medical emergency.
Evidence that would substantiate this view is the airline confirming a stopover of around 40 minutes for refuelling.
If that holds true, then it would indicate a medical emergency as a strong likelihood.
Moreover, if the aircraft is grounded, then it could be down to the crew running out of hours.
It could also be something technical with the aircraft.
As soon as we have more information, we will update you accordingly.
For now, this remains a developing story pending additional updates.
Be sure to stay tuned on the AviationSource website for more updates.
More to follow in due course.