Air France Captain Resigns Due To Environmental Guilt

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A senior Air France pilot has resigned from his position, citing environmental guilt. I cannot recall a previous occasion in which a commercial pilot quit due to “eco-anxiety.” Let’s unpack what prompted this decision.

Air France Pilot Quits Job, Citing Environmental Guilt

Anthony Viaux has flown for Air France for 22 years, piloting a mix of Airbus A340 and A320 family aircraft. He recently took a two-year sabbatical from piloting and took to LinkedIn this week to announce that he will not return to Air France. In a lengthy post written in French, he walks us through his dream of becoming a pilot from a young age but how during his sabbatical he realized “the only solution I found was to take stock and try to lighten a little the weight of the eco-anxiety that was gnawing at me.”

Lamenting that aircraft production is set to double in the next 15 years, he shares of his conversion to environmentalism and how his commitment of that cause has made it impossible for him to continue flying for Air France:

But these days, each flight and its magic comes at a high price, the tanks of my Airbus not being filled with words or dreams, but with oil, intended to be burned.

Today my heart is heavy. To leave my colleagues, and because reaching the position of captain remains the holy grail of any pilot. Thank you to all those I have had the chance and the pleasure to meet over all these years, thank you to my crews, colleagues and friends for sharing all these moments in the four corners of the globe!

I really loved working at Air France. However, today I feel the pressing need to realign myself with my inner compass, which tells me that my convictions are no longer in line with this profession.

Of course, I am aware that my resignation will not save the planet of course, but burning thousands of liters of kerosene every time I went to work, I couldn’t do it anymore.

I am now heading towards other horizons: naturopathy, music, writing an essay on my experience as a pilot with regard to my ecological awareness, a podcast (“Health by nature”)…

He hopes to compose music and start a podcast with his newfound extra time.

What To Make Of This

As noted by One Mile At A Time, “We should do everything in our power to live in a way that aligns with our values.” Part of me commends this pilot for putting his money where his mouth is, even if it conveniently comes at a point in his career where he can now draw a pension after a few more years of doing whatever he will do next. Commercial pilots must retire by age 60 in France.

As a religious person myself, I can understand his zealous evangelical fervor and what a powerful conversion experience he had in concluding that his life lacked meaning as a slave to the sin he determined that flying represented.

While I believe worshiping Mother Nature is worshiping the wrong god, at least he can see the god that he trusts in.

I wish him the best going forward, but doubt he will find the meaning and peace he seeks in this particular cause.

From being a climate change denier, I recognize the Earth is changing and I think it’s a foregone conclusion at this point that industrialization in the developed and developing world is at least partially responsible.

However, the idea of cutting our way to “net zero” strikes me as fancifully naive as millions more enter the middle class in China and India each year. And let’s face it, what are you really willing to cut back?

I’m a big supporter of carbon capture and other research and development that can address this issue without asking folks to cut back because people are not willing to cut back…the drop in the bucket here and there will make no meaningful difference.

And how sad that the influencers who helped to guilt Viaux in this career change are more than likely stepping onto their private jets like crooked televangelists because they must more “efficiently” spread the “good news” of fighting carbon emissions.

CONCLUSION

Anthony Viaux has ended his 22-year career with Air France over environmental guilt and will now pilot a podcast instead of an Airbus A320. I wish him all the best in his new endeavor but find his latest career pivot tragic.