Air France pilots
joke about bombs

For the second time in three months, an Air France pilot was detained at Kennedy Airport for joking about blowing up a plane.

Federal officials say the pilot of Paris-bound Flight 23 became unruly Friday afternoon after his luggage set off a security-screening machine.

“During the course of their inspection, the pilot made several comments which included references to the airplane blowing up, him blowing up and the story ending up on the front page of the New York Times,” Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Amy von Walter told the New York Post.

“Our screeners followed standard operating procedure and notified Port Authority police,” she added.

Port Authority cops briefly detained the pilot, whose name was not released. However, the local district attorney declined to press charges, reports the Post.

The pilot, who likely faces disciplinary action from the airline, then spent the night at a Manhattan hotel and resumed his flight to Paris as a passenger today, according to the paper.

In the meantime, passengers’ travel plans went seriously awry. While most of the 270 passengers got rerouted on other flights leaving Friday night, others were waylaid for the night.

“From the beginning, Air France’s primary concern was our passengers,” a statement released by the carrier and obtained by the Post read. “All of them … were assisted in getting to their final destination.

The incident mirrored another on Aug. 8, when Air France co-pilot Philippe Riviere was arrested for allegedly telling TSA screeners he had explosives in his shoes. Riviere was charged with filing a false report and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.