Safety
BEA finds unclear stabilizer jam procedure behind an Air France A321 incident
France's BEA has published its final report on an Air France A321 stabilizer jam, and Airbus has now clarified the cockpit procedure the investigation found was unclear.
On 27 April 2025, an Air France Airbus A321-111, registration F-GMZC, got an ECAM F/CTL STABILIZER JAM warning while descending into Paris-Charles de Gaulle on flight AF1749 from Malaga. The flight control law degraded from normal to alternate, then to direct when the crew extended the landing gear. The pilot flying declared PAN PAN and trimmed manually for landing. No one was hurt and the aircraft was not damaged.
France's Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses published its final report on the incident, case BEA2025-0161, in French on 10 November 2026, with an English translation still to come. The probable causes it gives are an incorrect application of the stabilizer jam procedure, inappropriate use of manual trim in flight, and a landing made with the elevators close to the pitch-up stop. It names two contributing factors: limited crew training in alternate law with manual trim as the only pitch control, and unclear wording in the ECAM procedure's "TRIM FOR NEUTRAL ELEV" item.
In plain terms
When an Airbus's horizontal stabilizer jams, the crew is left relying on the elevators and manual trim to control pitch, a mode the aircraft is not normally flown in. The BEA found the checklist telling pilots how to do that was not as clear as it needed to be.
Following the report, Airbus has clarified the stabilizer jam procedure, according to trade press coverage of the finding. Airbus has not published the revised wording itself, and whether the change lands in the QRH, the FCOM or a flight operations telex has not been confirmed independently.
On the line
F-GMZC is a ceo generation A321, the type still making up most of Air France's A321 fleet. Check for an updated flight operations telex or FCOM revision on the stabilizer jam procedure, and confirm that alternate law manual trim training covers the scenario the BEA described rather than assuming it already does.
Sources
- BEA, investigation case page, incident to Airbus A321 F-GMZC operated by Air France on 27 April 2025 near Paris-Charles de Gaulle, accessed 13 November 2026. https://bea.aero/en/investigation-reports/notified-events/detail/incident-to-the-airbus-a321-registered-f-gmzc-operated-by-air-france-on-27-04-2025-near-paris-charles-de-gaulle-ad/
- AvHerald, "Incident: France A321 near Paris on Apr 27th 2025, degradation of flight controls to direct law", updated 10 November 2026. https://avherald.com/h?article=527cefdf
- FlightGlobal, "Airbus clarifies stabiliser jam procedure after pilot manually mis-trimmed A321", 12 November 2026. https://www.flightglobal.com/ops-safety/2026/11/airbus-clarifies-stabiliser-jam-procedure-after-pilot-manually-mis-trimmed-a321/
- AeroInside, "France A321 near Paris on Apr 27th 2025, degradation of flight controls to direct law", 10 November 2026. https://www.aeroinside.com/20705/france-a321-near-paris-on-apr-27th-2025-degradation-of-flight-controls-to-direct-law