1950 Air France multiple Douglas DC-4 accidents
Encyclopedia
1950 Air France multiple Douglas DC-4 accidents were the crash of two Air France
Douglas DC-4
within a few miles of each other, one on 12 June and the other two days later on the 14 June. The two aircraft were operating the same route from Saigon to Paris both had stopped at Karachi Airport and crashed on approach to Bahrain. A total of 84 passengers and crew were killed, 40 on the 12 June and 44 on the 14 June.
and had departed at 16:05 from a stopover at Karachi for another stopover at Bahrain. At 20:42 it called Bahrain approach reporting at 6500 feet and asking for clearance to descend. It was given permission to descend to 2000 feet. The aircraft overflew the airfield at about 1000 feet and at 21:13 reported as being on the down wind leg of the approach, the tower passed the wind speed and direction. At 21:15 the aircraft reported "finals" and the tower gave permission to land on Runway 29. The aircraft hit the water and crashed. After an eight hour search the aircraft was found in 12 feet of water 3.3 miles from the end of the runway, 46 of the 52 occupants had been killed. Three survivors were found soon after the accident by a ship and three others were rescued by helicopter after eight hours in the water. All on board were French other than one stateless person.. The French writer François-Jean Armorin was on board.
airliners powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp radial piston engines and able to carry up to 86 passengers.
. In December 1994 a memorial was erected in Bahrain to commemorate the 86 victims; the memorial is one of the propellers of the F-BBDM that had been recovered in 1994, mounted on a plinth.
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
Douglas DC-4
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
within a few miles of each other, one on 12 June and the other two days later on the 14 June. The two aircraft were operating the same route from Saigon to Paris both had stopped at Karachi Airport and crashed on approach to Bahrain. A total of 84 passengers and crew were killed, 40 on the 12 June and 44 on the 14 June.
Accident 12 June 1950
The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Saigon to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and had departed at 16:05 from a stopover at Karachi for another stopover at Bahrain. At 20:42 it called Bahrain approach reporting at 6500 feet and asking for clearance to descend. It was given permission to descend to 2000 feet. The aircraft overflew the airfield at about 1000 feet and at 21:13 reported as being on the down wind leg of the approach, the tower passed the wind speed and direction. At 21:15 the aircraft reported "finals" and the tower gave permission to land on Runway 29. The aircraft hit the water and crashed. After an eight hour search the aircraft was found in 12 feet of water 3.3 miles from the end of the runway, 46 of the 52 occupants had been killed. Three survivors were found soon after the accident by a ship and three others were rescued by helicopter after eight hours in the water. All on board were French other than one stateless person.. The French writer François-Jean Armorin was on board.
Accident 14 June 1950
The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Saigon to Paris and had departed at 16:43 from a stopover at Karachi for another stopover at Bahrain. At 21:41 it called Bahrein to report as being overhead. At 21:52 the aircraft reported Procedure Turn and the tower gave permission to land. The aircraft hit the water and crashed within a mile of the previous accident. After a search a ship reported picking up survivors at 02:00, 40 of the 53 occupants had been killed. Most of the passengers and the crew were French with two Vietnamese and two Chinese, at least 13 of the passengers were children.Investigation
A special commission of inquiry arrived on 15 June in Bahrain to investigate the first accident, it was then directed to investigate both accidents. The commission banned all French aircraft from landing at night while the cause was being investigated. The manager of Air France in the Far East said there were similarities between the two accidents, both having taken place at the same time in bad atmospheric conditions.Probable cause 12 June 1950
The probable cause was that pilot-in-command did not keep an accurate check of his altitude and rate of descent during the timed approach procedure, thus allowing his aircraft to fly into the surface of the sea. The possibility that the pilot-in-command was feeling the effects of fatigue cannot be ruled out.Probable cause 14 June 1950
The probable cause was a failure of the pilot-in-command to adopt the timed approach procedure to the prevailing conditions and having descended to 300ft, the pilot-in-command did not take the necessary steps to maintain this altitude until such time as the runway lights became visible.Recommendations
The investigation into both accidents recommended that consideration be given to equipping Bahrain Airport with radio landing aids and with suitable runway approach lights.Aircraft
The aircraft were both Douglas DC-4Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
airliners powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp radial piston engines and able to carry up to 86 passengers.
- RegistrationAircraft registrationAn aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
F-BBDE and named Ciel de Picardie it was a Douglas DC-4-1009 which first flew on 3 June 1946 had had flown 8,128 hours by the time of the accident. - Registered F-BBDM and named Ciel de Gasxoigne it was a Douglas DC-4-1000 which first flew on 27 June 1946 and had flown 8,705 hours by the time of the accident.
Aftermath
Modern investigation into the accidents indicate that the cause may have been due to microburstsMicroburst
A microburst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to, but distinguishable from, tornadoes, which generally have convergent damage. There are two types of microbursts: wet microbursts and dry microbursts...
. In December 1994 a memorial was erected in Bahrain to commemorate the 86 victims; the memorial is one of the propellers of the F-BBDM that had been recovered in 1994, mounted on a plinth.