Thursday, June 4, 2009

r France's 70-year history, 13 of the reported accidents involved loss of life..!

Incidents and accidents

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In Air France's 70-year history, 13 of the reported accidents involved loss of life.[47]

Selected accidents and major incidents:

[edit] 1940s

[edit] 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, Vietnam - 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.[50]
  • 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. Moreover, they cited the crew's error of judgement and over-confidence when flying over the mountain mass as additional contributory factors.[51]
  • 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.[52]
  • On 29 April 1952, a Douglas C-54A (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 plane, necessitating the shutdown of engines three and four, the pilot landed safely at West Berlin's Tempelhof Airport. An inspection of the aircraft at Tempelhof 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 Air France plane was outside the air corridor at the time of attack.[53]
  • 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.[54]
  • 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.[55]

[edit] 1960s

  • On 12 September 1961, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III (registration F-BJTB) operating the Paris Orly-Rabat-Casablanca sector as flight AF2005 crashed near Rabat's Sale 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.[59]
  • On 3 June 1962, a chartered Boeing 707-328 (registration F-BHSM), Chateau de Sully, flying from Orly Airport, Paris, France, to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Atlanta, USA, 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.[60] 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. [61]
  • 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 Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, West Indies, 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 acculumated only 985 hours of flying at the time of the accident. [62]
  • On 6 March 1968, a Boeing 707-328C (registration F-BLCJ) operating the Caracas-Point-à-Pitre sector of Air France flight 212 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).[63]
  • On 11 September 1968, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III (registration F-BOHB) operating the Ajaccio, Corsica - Nice sector as flight AF1611 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.[64]

[edit] 1970s

  • On 12 June 1975, a Boeing 747-128 (registration N28888) operating the sector between Bombay (now Mumbai), India, and Tel Aviv, Israel, 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 tyre 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 tyre 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).[66]
  • 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 was also killed. One hostage was unaccounted for. She had been taken to Mulago Hospital prior to the assault and later killed on Idi Amin's orders.[citation needed]

[edit] 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).[67]
  • On 26 June 1988, Air France flight 296, Airbus A320-111 (registration F-GFKC) crashed near the airfield of Mulhouse Habsheim, in the Franco-German border 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 slow. Three passengers died and about 50 were injured.[68]

[edit] 1990s

  • On 24 December 1994, Air France flight 8969, an Airbus A300B2-1C (registration F-GBEC) was hijacked in Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers, Algeria, 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.[citation needed]
  • On 5 September 1996, turbulence caused injuries to three passengers on a Boeing 747 in mid-air near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. One died later from injuries received from an in-flight film projection screen. [69][70]
  • 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 AF6745 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.[73][74]

[edit] 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 in to a hotel just after takeoff 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 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.[75]

[edit] Hijackings

Air France has been the target of several hijackings. These hijackings occurred in the following sequence:

On 24 December 2003, three Air France flights bound for Los Angeles International Airport were cancelled because of fears that terrorists were targeting these flights.

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Head Office." Air France. Retrieved on 18 May 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: pp. 56-57. 2007-03-27.
  3. ^ Salpukas, Agis (1992-12-27). "Air France's Big Challenge". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/27/business/air-france-s-big-challenge.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-31.
  4. ^ "Air France - Company Overview". Hoover's. 2009. http://www.hoovers.com/air-france/--ID__43290--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml. Retrieved on 2009-05-31.
  5. ^ Régional (Compagnie Aérienne Européenne), Company Profile
  6. ^ Air France IOSA Operators Profile
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Air France (Airline, France)
  8. ^ a b c M.R. Golder, The Changing Nature of French Dirigisme - A Case Study of Air France. Thesis submitted at Trinity College, Oxford, 1997, p.28
  9. ^ World Airline Directory. Flight International. March 20, 1975. "466.
  10. ^ Airliners.net
  11. ^ Answers.com (Business and Finance) - Chargeurs International
  12. ^ FT.com/Business Life, The Monday Interview, 30 September 2007 - Pilot who found the right trajectory
  13. ^ The New York Times, 31 August 1994, Air France's New Adviser
  14. ^ Business Wire, 16 January 1996 - Statement from Air France Group Chairman regarding Stephen M. Wolf
  15. ^ AIR FRANCE - KLM Company Profile Yahoo! Finance
  16. ^ a b Financial Times, 17 October 2007 - Air France and Delta target London
  17. ^ Airwise, 17 October 2007 - Air France And Delta Set Transatlantic Venture
  18. ^ Engle, Jane. "Air France will refund or reroute LAX-Heathrow fliers". The Los Angeles Times. http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/air-france-will-refu-2984/. Retrieved on 2009-05-09.
  19. ^ "Air France's new livery retains much of current scheme". Flight International. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/02/11/322387/picture-air-frances-new-livery-retains-much-of-current-scheme.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-11.
  20. ^ Pegasus a la Francaise
  21. ^ Air France's Hippocampe and BOAC's Speedbird: the semiotic status of logos
  22. ^ Air France Fleet Information
  23. ^ A modern and rationalized fleet
  24. ^ Air France Fleet Age
  25. ^ Air France To Retire Boeing 747 Fleet (Flight Global: 24 May 2007)
  26. ^ ASIATravelTips.com, 18 June 2001 - Air France confirms major A380 order
  27. ^ Airliner World (March 2005)
  28. ^ Air International (July 2005)
  29. ^ DVB to acquire six Air France Boeing 747-400s Flight Global, 5 February 2008
  30. ^ [1] Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 20 February 2009
  31. ^ Airliners.net F-GFKJ retrojet
  32. ^ The Betrayal Of Concorde By Donald L. Pevsner
  33. ^ Flight International 26 March 1970
  34. ^ Air France - On Board
  35. ^ Air France reçoit son 50e Boeing 777 et lance une Tempo premium
  36. ^ "Baggage fees for major airlines". budgettravel.about.com. http://budgettravel.about.com/od/airfarescruises/tp/majors_bagfees.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-22.
  37. ^ Forbes - First-Class Chefs Take Flight
  38. ^ There is such thing as a good airline meal
  39. ^ Air France Airline Information
  40. ^ Echo Media - Air France Madame
  41. ^ Air France Flying Blue
  42. ^ a b Air France Flying Blue membership thresholds
  43. ^ "About Air France Code-share agreements". Air France. http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/local/toutsurairfrance/partenaires/partenaires_partage_code.htm. Retrieved on 2009-05-31.
  44. ^ Airliner World (January 2007)
  45. ^ Air France, Veolia plan high-speed rail venture (Reuters, 2008-09-08)
  46. ^ a b c Air France Reaching for the Stars
  47. ^ Record of Air France accidents/incidents at the ASN Aviation Safety Database
  48. ^ Gabler, Neal, Walt Disney, 2007, p.472
  49. ^ [2]
  50. ^ [3][4][5]
  51. ^ [6]
  52. ^ [7]
  53. ^ [8]
  54. ^ [9]
  55. ^ [10]
  56. ^ [11]
  57. ^ [12]
  58. ^ [13]
  59. ^ [14]
  60. ^ [15]
  61. ^ Morris, Mike. "Air France crash recalls ‘62 Orly tragedy." Atlanta Journal Constitution. Tuesday 2 June 2009. Retrieved on 2 June 2009.
  62. ^ [16][17]
  63. ^ [18]
  64. ^ [19]
  65. ^ [20]
  66. ^ [21]
  67. ^ [22]
  68. ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Airbus A320-111 F-GFKC - Mulhouse-Habsheim
  69. ^ [23]
  70. ^ [24]
  71. ^ [25]
  72. ^ [26]
  73. ^ [27]
  74. ^ Boeing's workhorse
  75. ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Aérospatiale / BAC Concorde 101 F-BTSC - Gonesse
  76. ^ "French plane 'missing' off Brazil". BBC News Online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8076848.stm. Retrieved on 1 June 2009.
  77. ^ "Brazil confirms wreckage from Air France jet." BBC. Wednesday 3 June 2009.

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