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Air France Flight 117

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1962 aviation accident

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Air France Flight 117
An Air France Boeing 707–320 similar to the crashed aircraft
Accident
Date22 June 1962
SummaryControlled flight into terrain
SiteDos D'Ane, 25 km (15.5 mi) WNW of Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
16°18′40″N 61°46′05″W / 16.311°N 61.768°W / 16.311; -61.768
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 707–328
Aircraft nameChateau de Chantilly
OperatorAir France
IATA flight No.AF117
ICAO flight No.AFR117
Call signAIR FRANS 117
RegistrationF-BHST
Flight originParis Orly Airport, Paris, France
1st stopoverLisbon Airport, Lisbon, Portugal
2nd stopoverSanta Maria Airport, Santa Maria, Azores
3rd stopoverPointe-à-Pitre International Airport, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
4th stopoverSimón Bolívar International Airport, Caracas, Venezuela
Last stopoverJorge Chávez International Airport, Lima, Peru
DestinationLos Cerillos, Santiago, Chile
Occupants113
Passengers103
Crew10
Fatalities113
Survivors0

Air France Flight 117 was a multi-leg international scheduled flight from Paris-Orly Airport via Lisbon, the Azores, Guadeloupe and Peru to Santiago, Chile, which crashed on 22 June 1962.

History

The aircraft involved, a Boeing 707–328, was four months old at the time of the accident.

The flight was uneventful until approaching Pointe-à-Pitre. The airport is surrounded by mountains and requires a steep descent. The weather was poor – violent thunderstorm and low cloud ceiling. The VOR navigational beacon was out of service. The crew reported themselves over the non-directional beacon (NDB) at 5,000 feet (1,524 m) and turned east to begin the final approach. Due to incorrect automatic direction finder (ADF) readings caused by the thunderstorm, the plane strayed 15 km (9.3 mi) west from the procedural let-down track. The plane crashed in a forest on a hill called Dos D'Ane ("The Donkey's Back"), at about 1,400 feet (427 m) and exploded. There were no survivors. Among the dead were French Guianan politician and war hero Justin Catayée, poet and black-consciousness activist Paul Niger, and Wanda Llosa, first cousin of future Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.

The investigation could not determine the exact reason for the accident, but suspected the insufficient meteorological information given to the crew, failure of the ground equipment, and the atmospheric effects on the ADF indicator. After the crash Air France pilots criticized under-developed airports with facilities that were ill-equipped to handle jet aircraft, such as Guadeloupe's airport. This was the second accident in less than three weeks with an Air France Boeing 707 after the crash on 3 June 1962. Tex Johnston, Chief Test Pilot of Boeing Aircraft Co. wrote in his autobiography of events leading up to the crash. "Air France flight crews were habitually late (for crew training by Boeing), and on occasion the airplane not serviced. ... After much extra, and in my mind, excessive flight training, the chief pilot failed to qualify." He informed the Air France Chief Executive in writing "I did not believe the captain capable of qualifying in the 707." Later "... an Air France instructor qualified the chief pilot. On his second trip as captain, he missed an inclement weather approach... and crashed into a mountain."

Some debris still remain at the site, where a memorial monument was placed in 2002 to mark the 40th anniversary of the crash. The road leading to the site is named Route du Boeing in memory of the crash.

Air France currently uses this flight number on a Shanghai–Pudong to Paris–Charles de Gaulle flight using a Boeing 777.

Memorials

Monuments

Several commemorative steles were erected at the site of the accident at Dos d'Âne mountain on 22 June 1962, then in 2002 with an official stele of the commune and the region with the list of all the victims.

Songs

  • Volé Boeing-la, de Gérard La Viny, 1962 (tribute to the victims of which his father died in the crash)

References

  1. "Boeing Crash Pilot's Alleged Protest Before Flight." The Times. 2 July 1962. 10.(subscription required)
  2. Johnston, A.M. "Tex" (4 December 2014). Tex Johnston: Jet-Age Test Pilot. Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 978 1-588-34447-2.
  3. "Dos d'Ane – La Stèle". 5 September 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  4. "Deshaies" (in French). Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  5. "Air France (AF) No. 117 Flight Tracker". FlightAware. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  6. "Boeing 707 Air France (plusieurs stèles)" [Boeing 707 Air France (several steles)] (in French). Aérosteles.
  7. "Hommage à Gérard La Viny" [Tribute to Gérard La Viny] (in French). Tous Créole. Archived from the original on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2018.

Sources

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1962 (1962)
Feb 25 Avensa Fairchild F-27 accidentMar 1 American Airlines Flight 1Mar 4 Caledonian Airways Flight 153Mar 8 Turkish Airlines crashMar 16 Flying Tiger Line Flight 739May 6 Channel Airways Dakota accidentMay 12 Godthab Catalina crashMay 22 Continental Airlines Flight 11Jun 3 Air France Flight 007Jun 22 Air France Flight 117Jun 30 Aeroflot Flight 902Jul 7 Alitalia Flight 771Jul 19 United Arab Airlines Flight 869Jul 22 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301Jul 28 Aeroflot Flight 415Sep 3 Aeroflot Flight 03Sep 18 Aeroflot Flight 213Sep 23 Flying Tiger Line Flight 923Nov 23 United Air Lines Flight 297Nov 23 Malév Flight 355Nov 27 Varig Flight 810Nov 30 Eastern Air Lines Flight 512Dec 14 Paraná da Eva Panair do Brasil Lockheed Constellation crashDec 19 LOT Vickers Viscount accident
1961   ◄    ►   1963
Aviation accidents and incidents in France between 1950 and 1999
1950–
1954
1955–
1959
1960–
1964
1965–
1969
1970s
1980s
1990s
^ Occurred in overseas departments and overseas territories
* Occurred in French Algeria, now an independent country
1785–1949 ◄ 1950–1999 ► 2000–
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