Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
 Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety(Transport accident investigator)   | |
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| Formation | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Le Bourget, Paris, France |
| Interests | Air India Flight 101 |
| Interest of | Air France Flight 1611, Air France Flight 296, Germanwings Flight 9525 |
| French government agency responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents. A few skeletons in the closet. | |
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, French: Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those investigations.
Its headquarters are at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in Le Bourget, near Paris. The BEA has 120 employees, including 30 investigators and 12 investigative assistants.[1] It is under the authority of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing.
The BEA was created in 1946.[1] It operates under, amongst other texts, the French civil aviation and transports codes.[2]
Following international rules, French authorities are responsible for investigating all aircraft accidents occurring in French territory or airspace, as well as accidents involving French aircraft occurring in international airspace or in other countries if the local authorities do not open a technical enquiry. They may also assist foreign investigation authorities at their request;[3] in particular, BEA technical assistance is often sought by nations that do not wish to engage with the American FAA for political reasons. They are also the investigating party for all Airbus aircraft,[4] something which gives it an enormous conflict of interest.
Notable dubious investigations and cover-ups include:
- Germanwings Flight 9525 in 2015, where a lone nut pilot was blamed, but where the investigation possibly sought to protect Airbus.
- Air France Flight 296 in 1988, where there were signs investigators had tampered with evidence, specifically the aircraft's flight recorders ("black boxes"), to protect Airbus.
- Air France Flight 1611 in 1968, shot down by a military missile.
References
- ↑ a b https://web.archive.org/web/20070702155738/https://www.bea.aero/anglaise/bea/bea.htm
- ↑ https://www.bea.aero/en/the-bea/legal-context/
- ↑ https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000038434248&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000023086525
- ↑ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2010.295.01.0035.01.ENG
