Air France Flight 296Q was a chartered flight of a new
Airbus A320-111 operated by
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
for
Air Charter International
Air Charter International was a French charter airline that operated from 1966 to 1998.
History
Early operations
Air Charter was established on 7 February 1966 as a subsidiary of Air France under the name Societé aérienne française d'aff ...
.
On 26 June 1988, the plane crashed while making a low pass over
Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield
Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield is a recreational aerodrome near the town of Habsheim in France. It is a former military base, and is now mainly used for light aircraft. The field also hosts the ''Aéro-Club des Trois Frontières'', ''Aéro-Club d ...
(
ICAO airport code
The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-letter code designating aerodromes around the world. These codes, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and published in ICAO Document 7910: ''Location Indicators'', ...
LFGB) as part of the Habsheim Air Show. Most of the crash sequence, which occurred in front of several thousand spectators, was caught on video.
This particular flight was the A320's first passenger flight (most of those on board were journalists and
raffle
A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are chec ...
winners). The low-speed flyover, with landing gear down, was supposed to take place at an altitude of ; instead, the plane performed the flyover at , skimmed the treetops of the forest at the end of the runway (which had not been shown on the airport map given to the pilots) and crashed. All the passengers survived the initial impact, but a woman and two children died from smoke inhalation before they could escape after struggling to unfasten the
seatbelt
A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt red ...
.
Official reports concluded that the pilots flew too low, too slow, failed to see the forest and accidentally flew into it. The captain, Michel Asseline, disputed the report and claimed an error in the
fly-by-wire
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...
computer prevented him from applying thrust and pulling up. Five individuals, including the captain and first officer, were later found guilty of
involuntary manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...
. Captain Asseline, who maintained his innocence, would go on to serve ten months of prison and a further ten months of probation.
This was the first fatal crash of an Airbus A320.
Aircraft
The accident aircraft, an
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
-111, registration F-GFKC, serial number 9, first flew on 6 January 1988 and was delivered to
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
on 23 June, three days prior to its destruction. It was the third A320 delivered to Air France, the launch customer.
Flight deck crew
Captain Michel Asseline, 44, had been a pilot with Air France for almost twenty years and had the following endorsements:
Caravelle; Boeing
707,
727, and
737 737 most commonly refers to:
* Boeing 737, an American narrow-body passenger airplane
** Boeing 737 Classic
** Boeing 737 MAX
** Boeing 737 Next Generation
* AD 737, a year in the common era
* 737 BC, a year
* 737 (number), a number
737 may als ...
; and Airbus
A300 and
A310. He was a highly distinguished pilot with 10,463 flight hours.
A training captain since 1979, Asseline was appointed to head the company's A320 training subdivision at the end of 1987. As Air France's technical pilot, he had been heavily involved in test flying the A320 type and had carried out maneuvers beyond normal operational limitations. Asseline had total confidence in the aircraft's computer systems.
First Officer Pierre Mazières, 45, had been flying with the airline since 1969 and had been a training captain for six years. He was endorsed on the Caravelle, Boeing 707 and 737, and had qualified as an A320 captain three months before the accident.
Mazières had 10,853 hours of flight time.
Flight plan
At the time of the incident, only three of the new aircraft type had been delivered to Air France, and the newest one (in service for two days) had been chosen for the flyover.
The aircraft was to fly from
Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...
to
Basel–Mulhouse Airport for a press conference. Then, sightseeing charter passengers would board and the aircraft would fly the short distance to the small
Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield
Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield is a recreational aerodrome near the town of Habsheim in France. It is a former military base, and is now mainly used for light aircraft. The field also hosts the ''Aéro-Club des Trois Frontières'', ''Aéro-Club d ...
. The captain would make a low-level fly-pass over Runway 02, climb up and turn back, and repeat the fly-pass over the same runway in the reciprocal direction (Runway 20). This would be followed by a sightseeing trip south to
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and i ...
before the passengers would be returned to Basel–Mulhouse Airport. Finally, the aircraft would return to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
The pilots had each had a busy weekend and did not receive the
flight plan
Flight plans are documents filed by a pilot or flight dispatcher with the local Air Navigation Service Provider (e.g. the FAA in the United States) prior to departure which indicate the plane's planned route or flight path. Flight plan format is ...
until the morning of the flight. They received no verbal details about the flyover or the aerodrome itself.
Flyover
![F-GFKC Air France Airbus A320 - 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/F-GFKC_Air_France_Airbus_A320_-_4.jpg)
The flight plan was that as the flight approached the airfield, the pilot would extend third-stage flap, lower the landing gear, and line up for level flight at . The captain would slow the aircraft to its minimum flying speed with maximum
angle of attack
In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is m ...
, disable the "alpha floor" (the function that would otherwise automatically increase engine thrust when the angle of attack reached 15°) and rely on the first officer to adjust the engine thrust manually to maintain 100 feet. After the first pass, the first officer would then apply the
takeoff/go-around switch
A takeoff/go-around switch (TO/GA; ) is a switch on the autothrottle of modern large aircraft, with two modes: takeoff (TO) and go-around (GA). The mode is dependent on the phase of flight; usually, on approach to land, the autopilot will be set ...
(TOGA) power and climb steeply before turning back for the second pass. "I've done it twenty times!" Asseline assured his first officer.
The flyover had been approved by Air France's Air Operations Directorate and Flight Safety Department, and air traffic control and
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
tower had been informed.
Habsheim aerodrome was too small to be listed in the aircraft's flight computer, thereby requiring a
visual approach
A visual approach is an approach to a runway at an airport conducted under instrument flight rules (IFR) but where the pilot proceeds by visual reference and clear of clouds to the airport. The pilot must at all times have either the airport or t ...
; both pilots were also unfamiliar with the airfield when they began their descent from only from the field. This distance was too short for them to stabilise the aircraft's altitude and speed for the flyover.
Additionally, the captain was expecting from the flight plan to do the pass over runway 02 ( long, paved) and was preparing for that alignment. But as the aircraft approached the field, the flight deck crew noticed that the spectators were gathered beside runway 34R ( long, grass). This last-minute deviation in the approach further distracted the crew from stabilising the aircraft's altitude and they quickly dropped to .
From higher up, the forest at the end of 34R had looked like a different type of grass. But now that the aircraft was performing its flyover at only thirty feet, the crew noticed the aircraft was lower than the now-identified hazard that they were fast approaching.
The cockpit voice recorder recorded the first officer's call:
:First officer: "TOGA power! Go-around track!"
Followed by:
:Cockpit area microphone (CAM):
ncrease in engine speed:CAM:
oises of impact in the trees:Captain: "Oh shit!"
:END OF TAPE
The crew applied full power and Asseline attempted to climb. However, the elevators did not respond to the pilot's commands because the A320's computer system engaged its "alpha protection" mode (meant to prevent the aircraft from entering a
stall). Less than five seconds later, the turbines began ingesting leaves and branches as the aircraft skimmed the tops of the trees. The combustion chambers clogged and the engines failed. The aircraft fell to the ground.
Traditionally, pilots respect the inherent dangers of flying at low speeds at low altitude, and normally, a pilot would not attempt to fly an aircraft so close to stalling with the engines at flight idle (minimum thrust setting in flight). In this instance, however, the pilots involved did not hesitate to fly the aircraft below its normal minimum flying speed because the purpose of the flyover was to demonstrate that the aircraft's computer systems would ensure that lift would always be available regardless of how the pilots handled the controls. Asseline's experience of flying the aircraft type at the outer limits of its flight performance envelope may have led to overconfidence and complacency.
Crash and evacuation
During the impact, the right wing was torn off, and the spilling fuel ignited immediately. Two fire trucks at the airshow set off and an ambulance followed. Local emergency services were informed by radio communication.
Inside the aircraft, many of the passengers were dazed from hitting their heads on the backs of the seats in front of them. Some passengers had difficulty unfastening their seatbelts because they were unfamiliar with the mechanism (which differs from the type used in car seatbelts). The purser went to announce instructions to the passengers but the public address system handset had been torn off. He then tried to open the left-side forward door, which was blocked by trees. The door opened partway, and the emergency escape slide began inflating while it was stuck partly inside the fuselage. The purser, a passenger, and a flight attendant (a guest from another airline) managed to push the door fully open. In the process, the purser and the passenger were thrown out of the fuselage with the slide landing on top of them. The flight attendant then began evacuating the passengers but they soon began to pile up at the bottom of the slide as their route was blocked by trees and branches. The egress of the passengers was temporarily halted while the purser and another flight attendant began clearing the branches. When the evacuation continued, the flight attendant stayed at the door, helping passengers, until she began suffering from
smoke inhalation
Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...
.
By this time, the fire had entered the right side of the fuselage through the damaged floor section between seat rows 10 and 15. A passenger tried to open the left-side overwing exit. It would not open, which was fortunate as there was by that time a fire on the left wing.
The panicking passengers now began pushing toward the front of the cabin. A flight attendant standing in the centre of the cabin at seat 12D was pushed into the aisle by a severely burnt passenger from 12F. Then, as she was helping another passenger whose clothes were on fire, she was carried forward by the surge of people rushing to escape. After the rush of people had left and the interior was fast becoming toxic, she stood at the front door and called back into the cabin. There was no reply and the thick black smoke made a visual check impossible, so she exited the fuselage. The evacuation from the rear door had been fast and smooth thanks to the instructions from the flight attendants at the rear of the aircraft.
The medical team from the airshow arrived and began examining the passengers. Ten minutes after the crash, the first of the fire trucks arrived. But because of the forest, only the smaller vehicles were able to reach the wreckage. Apart from the tail section, the aircraft was consumed by fire.
Of 136 people on board, three did not escape. One was a disabled boy in seat 4F who was unable to move. Another was a girl in seat 8C, who was unable to remove her seatbelt (her older brother had removed his own seatbelt but was carried away by the rush of people before he could help his sister). The third was a woman who had reached the front door and then returned to help the girl. Thirty-four passengers required hospitalisation for injuries and burns. Both pilots received minor head injuries and also suffered from smoke inhalation and
shock
Shock may refer to:
Common uses Collective noun
*Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names
* Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves
Healthcare
* Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emergen ...
.
Accident investigation
The official investigation was carried out by the ''
Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) 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 inve ...
'' (BEA), the French air accident investigation bureau, in conjunction with Air France and Airbus.
Although the official investigation was written in French, the BEA released an English version on 29 November 1989. The translated version of the report can be found on the Aviation Accidents Database and at the Aviation Safety Network.
Flight recorders
The plane's
flight recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
s were found still attached in the unburnt tail section. The
Cockpit Voice Recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(CVR) continued to operate for about 1.5 seconds after the initial impact. The
Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) continued to operate for about one second, then recorded nonsensical data for another two seconds. Interruption of the power occurred forward of the tail section—most probably in the wheel-well area, which was heavily damaged.
The CVR was read during the night of 26 June at the BEA. The transcription was later clarified with the assistance of the pilots involved. The tape speed was set using the 400 Hz frequency of the aircraft's electrical supply and then synchronised with the air traffic control recordings, which included a time track.
The DFDR was read the same night by the
Brétigny sur Orge Flight Test Centre:
* 12:43:44 - the aircraft begins its descent from , initially at a rate of per minute with 'Flaps 1'.
* 12:44:14 - the engine power is reduced to flight idle. Three seconds later, the undercarriage is extended. A further ten seconds later, 'Flaps 2' is selected.
* 12:44:45 - 'Flaps 3' is selected as the aircraft descends through at an airspeed of 177 knots.
* 12:45:06 - the aircraft descends through at an airspeed of 155 knots.
* 12:45:15 - the aircraft, now at , begins a deviation to the right (maximum bank angle: 30°) to line up with the grass strip 34R.
* 12:45:23 - the aircraft completes the deviation at a height of and an airspeed of 141 knots. During this manoeuvre, a fluctuation in the radio altimeter height corresponds to the aircraft passing over a patch of trees (whereas before and after this fluctuation, the readings of the radio altimeter and those of the barometric altimeter match perfectly). Three seconds later, the aircraft descends through at an airspeed of 132 knots. The Captain begins to flare the aircraft (he lifts the nose 4°) to level its flight. The aircraft levels off at .
* 12:45:30 - nose-up attitude increases to 7°.
* 12:45:35 - nose-up attitude is now 15° and speed is 122 knots. TOGA power is applied. Four seconds later, the aircraft begins striking the treetops.
Aircraft and engines
Investigators found that the aircraft had been airworthy, that its weight and centre-of-gravity had been within limits, and that there was no evidence of mechanical or electronic systems failure.
The flight deck crew believed that the engines had failed to respond to the application of full power. With the CFM56-5 engines, four seconds are required to go from 29% N
1 (flight idle) to 67%. It then takes one second more to go from 67 to 83% N
1. From the engine parameters recorded on the DFDR and spectral analysis of the engine sounds on the CVR, it was determined that five seconds after TOGA power was applied, the N
1 speed of Nº1 engine was 83% while that of Nº2 engine was 84%. Spectral analysis of the engine sounds indicated that 0.6 seconds later, both engines had reached 91% (by this stage, they were starting to ingest vegetation). This response of the engines complied with their certification data.
Official report
The official report from BEA concluded that the probable cause of the accident was a combination of the following:
* Very low flyover height, lower than surrounding obstacles;
* Speed very slow and reducing to reach maximum possible angle of attack;
* Engines speed at flight idle; and
* Late application of go-around power.
Furthermore, the bureau concluded that if the descent below 100 feet was not deliberate, it may have resulted from a failure by the crew to take proper account of the visual and aural information available to them regarding the elevation "above ground level" (AGL) of the aircraft.
The report further recommended that:
* Passengers should be banned from all demonstration flights
* Flight crews should be provided with – and ensure – proper reconnaissance of airfields
* Airline company procedures should be reviewed to ensure they comply with official regulations concerning altitude
Prosecutions
In 1996, Captain Asseline, First Officer Mazières, two Air France officials and the president of the flying club sponsoring the air show were all charged with
involuntary manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...
. In 1997, all five were found guilty. Asseline was initially sentenced to six months in prison along with twelve months of
probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
. Mazières was given a twelve month suspended sentence. The others were sentenced to probation. Asseline walked free from the court and said he would appeal to France's highest court, the
''Court of Cassation'' (). According to
French law
The Law of France refers to the legal system in the French Republic, which is a civil law legal system primarily based on legal codes and statutes, with case law also playing an important role. The most influential of the French legal codes is ...
, Asseline was required to submit himself to the prison system before his case could be taken up by the ''Court of Cassation''. In 1998, Asseline's appeal was rejected and his sentence was increased to ten months of imprisonment along with ten months of probation.
Alternative explanation
The television documentary series ''
Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
'' also reports claims in
Season 9 Episode 3 that the plane's flight recorder might have been tampered with and indicated that four seconds had been cut from the tape; this was shown by playing back a control tower tape and comparing it to the remaining tape. Asseline argues that he attempted to apply thrust earlier than indicated in the flight recorder data. When he increased throttle to level off at 100 ft, the engines did not respond. Asseline claims that this indicated a problem with the aeroplane's fly-by-wire system rather than
pilot error
Pilot error generally refers to an Aviation accidents and incidents, accident in which an action or decision made by the Aircraft pilot#Airline, pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pi ...
. After a few seconds, Asseline claims, he became worried that the plane's completely computerised throttle control had malfunctioned and responded by pulling the throttle all the way back then forward again. By that time the aircraft had touched the trees. ''Mayday'' also looks at the theory that it was the computer at fault, not the pilots. Because the aircraft's altitude had fallen below 100 ft, the plane's computer may have been programmed to believe it was landing and therefore prevent any drastic manoeuvres from either pilot. When the crew suddenly asked the plane for more power and lift, it may have simply ignored them.
It was also claimed by the Institute of Police Forensic Evidence and Criminology, based in Switzerland, that the flight data recorders may have been switched and were not the original ones in the airplane.
Airbus made a detailed rebuttal of these claims in a document published in 1991, contending that the independent investigator employed by the filmmakers made an error when synchronising the recordings based on a misunderstanding of how the "Radio Transmit" parameter on the flight data recorder functioned.
Dramatization
The episode "Blaming the Pilot" of the TV series ''
Survival in the Sky
''Survival in the Sky'', known as ''Black Box'' in the United Kingdom, is a British documentary series of six one-hour episodes produced by Darlow Smithson Productions for The Learning Channel and Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to ...
'' featured the accident.
The
Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel (often referred to as simply Discovery) is a Canadian specialty television channel owned by CTV Speciality Television Inc. (a joint venture between Bell Media/ESPN Inc. (80%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns the remainin ...
/
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
TV series ''
Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
'' featured the accident and subsequent investigation in a season 9 episode titled "Pilot vs. Plane" and included an interview with Captain Michel Asseline, survivors, and accident investigators.
The episode "Disastrous Descents" of the TV series ''Aircrash Confidential'' produced by WMR Productions and IMG Entertainment, featured the accident and included an interview with Captain Michel Asseline.
See also
*
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
This list of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this list involve passenger or cargo aircraft that are operating commercially and meet this list ...
*
List of airshow accidents and incidents
Notes
Footnotes
External links
Commission of Inquiry into the accident on 26 June 1988 in Mulhouse–HabsheimArchive french: link=no, Commission de enquete sur l'accident le 26 Juin 1988 a Mulhouse-Habsheim
{{Portal bar, Aviation, France, 1980s
1988 in France
296
__NOTOC__
Year 296 ( CCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Constantius (or, less frequent ...
Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1988
Aviation accidents and incidents in France
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
Aviation accidents and incidents at air shows
Aviation accident investigations with disputed causes
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
Conspiracy theories in France
Conspiracy theories involving aviation incidents
June 1988 events in Europe