Aircraft investigation >>>>>>> HOME PAGE
Airbus A320-100 accident report
Sunday 26 June 1988 Air France A320-111 F-GFKC c/n 009
Flight AF296Q taking off from Basel/Mulhouse apt (BSL) for a demo-flight with 6 crew
and 130 passengers. first flight : 09 Jan. 1988. While demonstrating the aircraft at an Airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim airport the aircraft descended low at high angle of attack. When the crew tried to climb out again the aircraft continued to descent past RW34R and impacted trees and then sank slowly in the forest and crashed 300m past RW34R.
Airframe hrs : 22 cycles : 18 engines : CFMI CFM56-5A1, 3 people died in the crash and 34 wounded. location : +-25m 47°4456.60N 7°2535.58E
The path trough the trees the aircraft made are still visible from the air.
Monday 20 January 1992 Air Inter Airbus A320-111 F-GGED c/n 015
Flight 5148 from Lyon Satolas apt. (LYS) to Strasbourg Entzheim apt. (SXB) with 6 crew and 90 passengers. During approach to Strasbourg RW05 it descended to fast due to wrong programming of the FCU (Flight Control Unit) by the flight crew resulting in not descending with -3.3 degrees but with 3300 ft/min ! So it descended to fast over the Vosges mountains, hidden in clouds and finally flew against 823m high la Blosse ridge at 798m height near Mt.Saint-Odile. The aircraft did not have GPWS and the crew therefore was not warned for the approaching terrain. first flight : 1988
Airframe hrs : 6316 cycles : 7194 engines : CFMI CFM56-5A1. 87 people died in the crash and 9 wounded. location : 19.5km SW of Strasbourg-Etzheim apt +-100m 48°2538.5N 7°2417.5E (from the crash report), location of the memorial monument : 48°2531.3N 7°2417.7E
Jacques Rantet Air Inter former operations director was arrested in 1993 regarding the crash. The A320-111 was not equipped with GPWS and for that Rantet was taken responsible. The trial would only start 14 years later in 2006, not known what was the outcome of the trial.
Literature :
ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A320-111 F-GFKC Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport (aviation-safety.net)
Air France flight AF296 - Aviation Accidents Database (aviation-accidents.net)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Publications/Legal_Issues/Strasbourg-crash.html
Het Binnenhof 25 January 1992
Technology: French fight over role of radar in airline safety | New Scientist