Air France accidents and incidents

Air France has been in operation since 1933, and like other airlines with long histories and far-flung operations, its aircraft have been involved in a number of major accidents and incidents. However, some have expressed concern at their frequency and Air France's efforts to combat this. A selected list of the most noteworthy of these events is given below.

1930s

• On 15 January 1934, a Dewoitine D.332 F-AMMY crashed on a flight from Saigon to Paris. The flight crashed at Corbigny, France after flying into a snowstorm, killing all 14 passengers and crew on board.^[1]
• On 9 May 1934, a Wibault 282-T F-AMHP crashed into the English Channel off Dungeness, Kent, United Kingdom, killing all six people on board.
• On 19 May 1934, a Golden Clipper crash-landed on a cricket pitch adjacent to Croydon Airport, Surrey, United Kingdom, due to fuel exhaustion. Only one of the ten people on board was injured.^[2]

1940s

• On 27 October 1949, boxer Marcel Cerdan, violinist Ginette Neveu, some members of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and Walt Disney Studios chief merchandiser Kay Kamen^[3] died when an Air France flight (registration F-BAZN) operated by a Lockheed L-749 Constellation crashed into Redondo Mountain after two attempts to land at the São Miguel Island airport in the Azores.^[4]

1950s

• On the nights of 12 and 14 June 1950, two Air France Douglas DC-4s (registration F-BBDE and F-BBDM, respectively) crashed into the sea off Bahrain while landing, with a combined loss of 86 lives. The first accident claimed the lives of 40 of the 53 occupants and the second 46 out of 52. Both aircraft had operated the Karachi, Pakistan, to Bahrain portion of Air France's Saigon, Indochina - Paris sector. The accident investigators concluded that the pilot in command did not maintain his correct altitude until the runway lights became visible during the approach to Bahrain in the first accident, and that the pilot in command did not keep an accurate check of his altitude and rate of descent during the approach procedure in the second accident.^[5]
• On 3 February 1951, a Douglas DC-4 (registration F-BBDO) operating Air France's Douala, Cameroon, to Niamey, Niger, sector hit the 13,354 feet high Cameroon Mountain near Bouea, Cameroon, west of Douala, at a height of 8,500 feet (2,600 m). The aircraft was destroyed, killing all 29 occupants. The mountain was probably only partially visible from the flight deck due to the mist surrounding it. Although the pilot immediately turned to the left, the plane hit the steeply rising terrain with its left wing. The accident investigators concluded that the crew followed an inaccurate procedure and relied on imprecise navigation. The investigators furthermore determined that the crew did not check the draft [sic]. Moreover, they cited the crew's error of judgement and over-confidence when flying over the mountain mass as additional contributory factors.^[6]
• On 3 March 1952, a SNCASE Languedoc (registration F-BCUM) operating a passenger flight from Nice Le Var Airport to Paris Le Bourget Airport crashed shortly after takeoff with the loss of all 38 lives on board. Soon after takeoff from Le Var Airport, the aircraft began banking to the left. This increased progressively until the aircraft flipped over on its back and crashed. The accident investigators attributed the accident to the aircraft's blocked ailerons to the left, as a result of a mechanical fault related to the design.^[7]
• On 29 April 1952, a Douglas DC-4 (registration F-BELI) operating a German internal service from Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport to Berlin Tempelhof Airport came under attack from two Soviet MiG 15 fighters while passing through one of the Allied air corridors over East Germany. Although the attack had severely damaged the aircraft, necessitating the shutdown of engines three and four, the pilot landed it safely at West Berlin's Tempelhof Airport, where an inspection revealed that it had been hit by 89 shots fired from the Soviet MiGs during the air attack. There were no fatalities among the 17 occupants (six crew, eleven passengers). The Soviet military authorities defended this attack on a civilian aircraft by claiming the DC-4 was outside the air corridor at the time of attack.^[8]
• On 3 August 1953, Air France Flight 152, a Lockheed L-749A Constellation ditched 6 miles from Fetiye Point, Turkey, 1,5 miles offshore into the Mediterranean Sea on a flight between Rome, Italy and Beirut, Lebanon. Violent vibrations following fracture of a propeller blade caused engine number three to break away, and control of engine number four was also lost. Vibrations continued with loss of altitude. The crew of eight and all but four of the 34 passengers were rescued.^[9]
• On 1 September 1953, a Lockheed L-749A Constellation (registration F-BAZZ) operating the Paris-Nice portion of a passenger flight to Hong Kong crashed into Mount Cemet, France, with the loss of all 42 lives on board. The accident occurred while the flight deck crew was preparing to land at Nice's Côte d'Azur airport, the aircraft's first scheduled stop. The accident investigation established "controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)" as the cause.^[10]
• On 4 August 1954, a Air France Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation flying from Orly Airport to Idlewild Airport crashed near Preston, Connecticut. All 37 occupants survived.^[11][12]
• On 12 December 1956, a Vickers Viscount (registration F-BGNK) crashed at Dannemois, Île de France while on a training flight, killing all five crew on board.^[13]
• On 8 April 1957, a Douglas C-47B (registration F-BEIK) operating an Algerian passenger flight from Biskra lost height after takeoff and crashed a mile beyond the airport's runway with the loss of all 34 lives on board.^[14]
• On 31 May 1958, a Douglas C-47A (registration F-BHKV) operating a non-scheduled Algerian passenger flight from Algiers to Colomb-Béchard crashed near Molière with the loss of all 15 lives on board.^[15]

1960s

• On 29 August 1960, a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation (registration F-BHBC) operating flight AF343 from Paris to Abidjan via Dakar, crashed into the sea with the loss of all 63 lives on board while the aircraft's flight deck crew made a second attempt to land at Dakar's Yoff Airport.^[16]
• On 10 May 1961, a Lockheed L-1649A Starliner (registration F-BHBM) operating the Fort Lamy (now N'Djamena), Chad, to Marseille portion of Air France's Brazzaville - Paris flight as flight AF406 crashed in the Sahara desert near Edjele, Algeria, with the loss of all 78 lives on board. The aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) when its empennage failed. This caused it to break up in flight. The accident investigators believed that the empennage separated from the rest of the aircraft as a result of the detonation of a nitrocellulose explosive device.^[17]
• On 15 June 1961, an Air France Boeing 707 en route from Paris to Lima caught fire while landing at Lisbon Portela de Sacavém as a result of a burst tyre. Although only three out of 109 passengers were slightly injured and most of the baggage, cargo and mail was salvaged, hundreds of chickens on their way to a farm in Central America did not survive the accident.^[18]
• On 27 July 1961, Boeing 707-328 Chateau de Versailles (registration F-BHSA) operating the polar route from Paris Orly via Hamburg and Anchorage to Tokyo Haneda as flight AF272 veered to the left and ran off the runway at Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel, coming to rest 2,840 m from the starting point in depression containing a building site 140 m from the runway. The accident, which occurred while the aircraft was departing Fuhlsbüttel for Anchorage, severely damaged the aircraft, splitting the fuselage in two places ahead of the wings. As a result, ten of 41 occupants (four of 15 crew members and six of 26 passengers) sustained serious injuries.^[19][20]
• On 12 September 1961, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III (registration F-BJTB) operating the Paris Orly-Rabat-Casablanca sector as Flight 2005 crashed near Rabat's airport with the loss of all 77 lives on board. At the time of the accident meteorological conditions in the local area were thick, low fog. The poor weather conditions reduced horizontal visibility and ceiling. The pilot informed ATC that he wanted to attempt a break-through over the NDB. The aircraft was destroyed by fire when it impacted the ground, killing everyone on board. The accident investigators cited the commander's error in reading his instruments as the most likely cause.^[21]
• On 3 June 1962, a chartered Boeing 707-328 (registration F-BHSM), Chateau de Sully, flying from Orly Airport, Paris, France, to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport operating as Flight 007, crashed at Orly during takeoff. 130 out of 132 people on board were killed. Two flight attendants sitting in the rear section of the aircraft were saved. The investigation found a faulty servo motor, which had led to an improper (and non-adjustable) elevator trim. Brake marks measuring 1,500 feet (457 m) were found on the runway, indicating that the flight deck crew tried to abort takeoff. The aircraft rolled right while only seven feet (two m) from the ground, causing its right wing to hit the ground. It crashed 50 yards (45 m) from the runway and exploded.^[22] Of the passengers 106 were Atlanta art patrons who had finished a tour of European capitals. Ann Uhry Abrams, the author of Explosion at Orly: The True Account of the Disaster that Transformed Atlanta, described the incident as "Atlanta’s version of Sept. 11 in that the impact on the city in 1962 was comparable to New York of Sept. 11." This was the deadliest crash in Air France history until the crash of Air France Flight 447.^[23]
• On 22 June 1962, Air France Flight 117, operated with a Boeing 707-328 (registration F-BHST), crashed into a forest on a hill at an altitude of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during bad weather, while attempting to land at Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, killing all 113 on board. The aircraft was attempting a non-precision NDB approach. A malfunctioning VOR station and poor NDB reception due to thunderstorms were blamed for the accident. The airframe had accumulated only 985 hours^{[citation needed]} of flying at the time of the accident.^[24] After that crash Air France pilots criticized under-developed airports with facilities that were ill-equipped to handle jet aircraft, such as Guadeloupe's airport.^[25]
• On 6 March 1968, a Boeing 707-328C (registration F-BLCJ) operating the Caracas-Point-à-Pitre sector as flight AF212 hit the southern slope of La Soufrière Mountain at an altitude of 3,937 feet, 27.5 km SSW of Le Raizet Airport with the loss of all 63 lives on board. When ATC had cleared the flight deck crew for a visual approach to Le Raizet's runway 11, the crew had reported the airfield in sight. Flight 212 started to descend from FL90 and passed Saint Claude at an altitude of about 4,400 feet (1,300 m). The accident investigators cited the probable cause as a visual approach procedure at night in which the descent was begun from an incorrectly identified point. Charlie Juliet had flown for 33 hours since coming off the Boeing production line, and was on her second revenue service (her maiden passenger flight was the previous day's outbound journey from Paris).^[26]
• On 11 September 1968, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III (registration F-BOHB) operating the Ajaccio, Corsica - Nice sector as Flight 1611 crashed into the sea near Cap d'Antibes off Nice with the loss of all 95 lives on board. The accident occurred while the flight deck crew attempted an emergency landing at Côte d'Azur Airport, following the detection of a fire in the aircraft's rear cabin 21 minutes after takeoff from Ajaccio. The accident investigators believed that the fire had started in the right lavatory and galley area.^[27]
• On 4 December 1969, a Boeing 707-328B (registration F-BHSZ) operating the Caracas-Point-à-Pitre sector of flight 212 crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Simon Bolivar International Airport with the loss of all 62 on board.^[28]

1970s

• On 12 June 1975, a Boeing 747-128 (registration N28888) operating the sector between Bombay (now Mumbai), and Tel Aviv, of flight AF193 to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport was destroyed by fire on the ground at Bombay's Santa Cruz Airport, following an aborted takeoff. The aircraft's tire on its right-hand main undercarriage had failed while the flight deck crew was executing a 180 degree turn at the beginning of Santa Cruz Airport's runway 27. When the flight deck crew began its takeoff run, another tire failed. At that point the plane's wheels and braking assembly came into contact with the runway, starting a fire. The crew aborted takeoff. The ensuing delay in shutting down the engines, as well as the improper deployment of the airport's fire service, caused the fire to spread, leading to the plane's total destruction. There were no fatalities among the 394 occupants (18 crew and 376 passengers).^[29]
• Operation Entebbe: On 27 June 1976, an Airbus A300 (registration F-BVGG) operating flight AF139 from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked shortly after departing Athens. After refuelling in Benghazi, Libya, the hijackers demanded it be flown to Entebbe, Uganda. One hostage was freed in Benghazi and in Uganda another 155 non-Israeli and/or non-Jewish hostages were released. The flight crew remained with the hostages after Captain Bacos insisted he was responsible for them. After several days of negotiating and diplomatic interventions, Israel launched a commando raid into Entebbe to free them. During the assault all six of the hijackers were killed as were three hostages. The leader of the assault, Yoni Netanyahu, was also killed. One hostage, 75 years old Dora Bloch, was unaccounted for. She had been taken to Mulago Hospital prior to the assault and later killed on Idi Amin's orders.^{[citation needed]}

1980s

• On 18 January 1984, an explosion in the cargo hold of a Boeing 747 en route from Karachi, Pakistan, to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, shortly after departing Karachi blew a hole in the right rear cargo hold. The resulting loss of cabin pressure necessitated an immediate descent to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). The aircraft returned to Karachi without any fatalities among the 261 occupants (15 crew and 246 passengers).^[30]
• On 26 June 1988, Air France Flight 296, Airbus A320-111 (registration F-GFKC) crashed near Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport, in the French region of Alsace. The accident occurred during an airshow while the flight deck crew was performing a flypast at low height and speed. The aircraft overflew the airfield in good weather. Seconds later the aircraft struck treetops behind the runway and crashed into a forest, as a result of flying too low and too slowly. Three passengers died and about 50 were injured.^[31]

1990s

• In 1991 Air France was accused of helping its spy agency conduct corporate espionage by installing microphones in its seats.^[32]
• On 24 December 1994, Air France Flight 8969, an Airbus A300B2-1C (registration F-GBEC) was hijacked at Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers, by four terrorists who belonged to the Armed Islamic Group. The terrorists apparently intended to crash the plane over the Eiffel Tower on Boxing Day. After a failed attempt to leave Marseille following a confrontational firefight between the terrorists and the GIGN French Special Forces, the result was the death of all four terrorists. (Snipers on the terminal front's roof shot dead two of the terrorists. The other two terrorists died as a result of gunshots in the cabin after approximately 20 minutes.) Three hostages including a Vietnamese diplomat were executed, 229 hostages survived, many of them wounded by shrapnel. The almost 15-year-old aircraft was written off.^[33]
• On 5 September 1996, during Air France Flight 437 turbulence caused injuries to thirty people on a Boeing 747 in mid-air, going from Johannesburg to Paris. One passenger died later from injuries received from an in-flight film projection screen.^[34][35]
• On 20 April 1998, Air France Flight 422: the Air France flight from Bogotá's El Dorado Airport, to Quito, using an aircraft leased from TAME and flown by Ecuadorian crew, crashed into a mountain near Bogotá. All 43 passengers and 10 crew died.^[36][37]
• On 5 March 1999, an ex-UTA Boeing 747-2B3F (SCD) freighter (registration F-GPAN) carrying a revenue load of 66 tons of cargo on flight 6745 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Madras Meenambakkam, India, via Karachi, Pakistan and Bangalore HAL Airport, India, crash-landed, caught fire and burned out. Meenambakkam ATC had cleared the aircraft for an ILS approach to the airport's runway 07. The crew abandoned the approach due to technical difficulties. The aircraft circled to attempt a second approach. At the end of the second approach, the aircraft's nose struck the runway while touching down because its nose gear was either not down or not locked. The plane skidded and came to rest 7,000 feet (2,100 m) down the 13,050 ft. runway. After it had come to a standstill, the crew noticed smoke on the flight deck and began to extinguish the flames. Soon after, flames erupted in the aircraft's front section. One crew member managed to escape from the flight deck via a rope ladder. The remaining four crew members were rescued by the airport fire service from the rear, before the flames engulfed the entire aircraft. The fire service was unable to extinguish the fire and the aircraft burned out.^[38][39]

2000s

• On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde (registration F-BTSC) charter departing from De Gaulle airport in Paris bound for New York's JFK Airport crashed just after takeoff into a hotel in Gonesse, France. All 109 people on board died, along with four people on the ground. According to the accident investigation report, the probable cause was the destruction of one of the aircraft's main wheel tires, as a result of passing at high speed over a part lost by a pre-departing Continental Airlines DC-10 during the takeoff run. The piercing of one of the fuel tanks by a piece of the exploding tire ignited the leaking jet fuel and caused a loss of thrust in engine number one and two in quick succession.^[40]
• On 2 August 2005, Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340-300 (registration F-GLZQ) overshot the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport during a thunderstorm. The plane continued for 300 metres before coming to rest at the bottom of a ravine at the end of the runway adjacent to Highway 401. All 297 passengers and 12 crew survived but the plane was completely destroyed by fire. The investigation predominately blamed pilot error when faced with the severe weather conditions.
• On 1 June 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-203 (registration F-GZCP) from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people onboard lost contact with air traffic control while over the Atlantic Ocean, 300 km (190 mi) north-east of the Brazilian city of Natal.^[41] In the days following the crash only portions of the plane and 51 bodies were found. All passengers and crew members were killed in the crash, the cause of which is still under investigation, but a possible pitot tube failure has been speculated.^[42]

Hijackings

Air France has been the target of several hijackings, which are listed in chronological order:

• 1973 Marseille ^[43]
• 1976 Benghazi (Operation Entebbe)^[44] and Saigon^[45]
• 1977 Benghazi^[46]
• 1983 Tehran^[47]
• 1984 Geneva^[48][49] and Tehran^[50]
• 1989 Algiers^[51]
• 1993 Nice^[52]
• 1994 Algiers ^[53]

References

External links

• 12 June 1950 F-BBDE - Bahrain - Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (French) (Archive)
• 14 June 1950 F-BBDM - Bahrain - Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (French) (Archive)