Air France Flight 212 (1969)

1969 aviation accident Not to be confused with Air France Flight 212 (1968).

Air France Flight 212
Occurrence
A similar Air France Boeing 707-320C
Date	December 3, 1969 (1969-12-03)
Summary	Unknown
Site	Near Caracas, Venezuela
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-328B
Aircraft name	Chateau de Kerjean
Operator	Air France
Registration	F-BHSZ
Flight origin	Caracas International Airport
Destination	Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport
Passengers	51
Crew	11
Fatalities	62
Survivors	0

Air France Flight 212 was a passenger flight operated by a Boeing 707, registration F-BHSZ, that crashed on 3 December 1969. None of the 62 people on board survived.

Circumstances

On 3 December 1969, Flight 212, which originated from Santiago International Airport, was flying to Paris, France via Lima, Peru; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Bogota, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe; and Lisbon, Portugal. The aircraft took off on the Caracas – Pointe-à-Pitre leg from Caracas airport's runway 08R at 19:02 local time (23:02 UTC). One minute after takeoff from Caracas, at approximately 3,000 feet (910 m), the aircraft plunged into the sea and sank in 160 feet of water.

The causes of the disaster remain unknown because the French Bureau of Investigations et Accidents (BEA) did not publish an investigation report. Documents relating to the BEA investigation are classified in the French national archives as 19880360/49 and 19880360/50, and will not be released until 2029, sixty years after the accident. However, in July 2017, several pilot unions (ALTER, SNGAF, SNOMAC, SNPL Air France ALPA, SNPNC, SPAF, UNAC, PNC UNSA) requested the files be declassified early.

Various conspiracy theories about the crash have arisen: maneuvers to avoid colliding with a nearby Avro 748 followed by a loss of control, bombing, spatial disorientation, in-flight-fire, engine failure, and/or fuel contamination. Documents classified "defense secret" from the BEA and the Paris Police Prefecture would investigate the probability of a bomb-related explosion on board the aircraft. If any of these were confirmed, this accident would be the first act of terrorism against French civilian aeronautics, and one of the first airliner attacks in the world..

Victims

All 62 people on board were killed, including:

11 crew members (4 flight crew + 7 flight attendants);
51 passengers, including 10 crew members deadheading (4 flight crew + 6 flight attendants).

Notes

Some early newspaper reports incorrectly stated the altitude as 33,000 feet (10,000 m)

References

^ "Lever le secret sur le crash du vol AF212" [Lift the secret on the AF 212 flight crash]. Aerobuzz (in French). 7 July 2017..
^ "Photocopie des courriers du BEA et du Laboratoire de la Préfecture de Police de Paris sur l'accident du F-BHSZ" [Photocopy of letters from the BEA and the Paris Police Prefecture Laboratory on the F-BHSZ accident]. webeugene.net (in French)..
^ ASN n.d.
^ AP 1969.
^ CAA 1974, p. 23/69.
"Crash du vol AF 212 : plusieurs syndicats de l'aérien demandent la déclassification du dossier" [Flight accident AF 212: several air unions request the declassification of the file]. TourMag (in French). 7 July 2017..

Sources

"ASN Aircraft Accident Boeing 707-328B F-BHSZ Caracas Simon Bolivar Airport (CCS)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
World Airline Accident Summary. Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom). 1974. ISBN 0-903083-44-2.
"62 Dies as Jet Falls 6 Miles into Ocean: Air France Craft Lost at Caracas", Youngstown Vindicator, vol. 81, no. 95, Associated Press, p. 1, 4 December 1969

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Venezuela
1950s	Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 (November 1956)
1960s	Avensa Fairchild F-27 accident (February 1962) Pan Am Flight 217 (December 1968) Viasa Flight 742 (March 1969) Air France Flight 212 (December 1969)
1970s	Avensa Flight 358 (December 1974) Punta Mulatos Linea Aeropostal Venezolana HS-748 crash (March 1978)
1980s	Latin Carga Convair CV-880 crash (November 1980) Avensa Flight 007 (March 1983)
1990s	Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 108 (March 1991) Cubana de Aviación Flight 310 (December 1999)
2000s	West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 (August 2005) Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 (February 2008)
2010s	Conviasa Flight 2350 (September 2010)

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969 (1969)
Jan 5 Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701Jan 6 Allegheny Airlines Flight 737Jan 13 Scandinavian Airlines Flight 933Jan 18 United Air Lines Flight 266Feb 18 El Al Flight 432Feb 18 Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708Feb 24 Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104Mar 5 Prinair Flight 277Mar 16 Viasa Flight 742Mar 20 United Arab Airlines Aswan crashMar 25 Delta Air Lines Flight 821Apr 2 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165Apr 15 EC-121 shootdown incidentApr 28 LAN-Chile Flight 160May 23 Theft of C-130Jun 4 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 704Jun 23 Yukhnov mid-air collisionJun 28 Aeroflot Flight F-28Jul 26 TWA Flight 5787Aug 3 Aeroflot Flight N-826Aug 26 Aeroflot Flight 1770Aug 29 TWA Flight 840Aug 31 Newton Cessna 172 crashSep 9 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853Sep 12 Philippine Air Lines Flight 158Sep 21 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801Sep 26 La Paz LAB DC-6 crashNov 19 Mohawk Airlines Flight 411Nov 20 Nigeria Airways Flight 825Dec 3 Air France Flight 212Dec 8 Olympic Airways Flight 954Dec 11 Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking
1968 ◄ ► 1970

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969 (1969)

Jan 5 Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701Jan 6 Allegheny Airlines Flight 737Jan 13 Scandinavian Airlines Flight 933Jan 18 United Air Lines Flight 266Feb 18 El Al Flight 432Feb 18 Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708Feb 24 Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104Mar 5 Prinair Flight 277Mar 16 Viasa Flight 742Mar 20 United Arab Airlines Aswan crashMar 25 Delta Air Lines Flight 821Apr 2 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165Apr 15 EC-121 shootdown incidentApr 28 LAN-Chile Flight 160May 23 Theft of C-130Jun 4 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 704Jun 23 Yukhnov mid-air collisionJun 28 Aeroflot Flight F-28Jul 26 TWA Flight 5787Aug 3 Aeroflot Flight N-826Aug 26 Aeroflot Flight 1770Aug 29 TWA Flight 840Aug 31 Newton Cessna 172 crashSep 9 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853Sep 12 Philippine Air Lines Flight 158Sep 21 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801Sep 26 La Paz LAB DC-6 crashNov 19 Mohawk Airlines Flight 411Nov 20 Nigeria Airways Flight 825Dec 3 Air France Flight 212Dec 8 Olympic Airways Flight 954Dec 11 Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking

1968 ◄ ► 1970

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