Air Inter Flight 148 was a scheduled airline flight on 20 January 1992 that crashed in the Vosges Mountains, near Mont Sainte-Odile, while circling to land at Strasbourg Airport. 87 of the 96 onboard were killed.[1]
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 20 January 1992 |
| Summary | Pilot error[1] (Controlled flight into terrain) |
| Website | Barr, near Strasbourg, Frankreich[1] 48°25′38.5″N 7°24′18.5″E / 48.427361°N 7.405139°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A320-111 |
| Operator | Air Inter |
| Registration | F-GGEDdisaster |
| Flight origin | Lyon Satolas Airport |
| Destination | Strasbourg Airport |
| Passengers | 90 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 87 (82 passengers, 5 crew) |
| Survivors | 9 (8 passengers, 1 crew) |
Flight 148, commanded by Captain Christian Hecquet and First Officer Joël Cherubin,[2] departed Satolas Airport (now known as Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport) in Lyon, France. While being vectored for a VOR DME Approach to Runway 05 at Strasbourg, it crashed at 19:20:33 CET (18:20:33 UTC) in the mountains at an altitude of 2,620 feet (800 m).[1]
The pilots had no warning of the imminent impact because Air Inter had not equipped its aircraft with ground proximity warning systems (GPWS). This was because Air Inter – facing ferocious competition from France's TGV high-speed trains – encouraged its pilots to fly fast at low level (up to 350 knots below 10,000 feet, while other airlines generally do not exceed 250 knots), and GPWS systems gave too many nuisance warnings.[3]
Flight 148 was the third in a series of crashes caused at least in part by what was believed to be pilots' unfamiliarity with the sophisticated computer system of the Airbus A320. The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) believe that Flight 148 crashed because the pilots inadvertently left the autopilot set in Vertical Speed mode (instead of Flight Path Angle mode) then entered "33" for "3.3° descent angle", which the autopilot interpreted as a descent rate of 3,300 feet (1,000 m) per minute.[1] After the crash, the Airbus autopilot was modified so that a vertical speed setting would be displayed as a four-digit number, preventing confusion with Flight Path Angle mode.[3]
There were other factors that contributed to the crash. When investigators input this descent rate into a flight simulator, the simulated plane did not crash. Further investigation showed that after some small turbulence, a safety feature in the autopilot further increased the descent thus adding to the chain of events that caused the crash.
Dramatization
The story of the disaster was featured on the ninth season of Canadian National Geographic Channel show Mayday (known as Air Emergency in the US, Mayday in Ireland and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and the rest of world). The episode is entitled "Crashed and Alone."
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Rapport de la commission d'enquête sur l'accident survenu le 20 janvier 1992 près du Mont Sainte-Odile (Bas Rhin) à l'Airbus A 320 immatriculé F-GGED exploité par la compagnie Air Inter". Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) Template:Fr icon - ^ "Quatorze ans après, les causes de la catastrophe du mont Sainte-Odile restent incertaines". Le Monde. 2 May 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) Template:Fr icon - ^ a b Mayday – Crashed And Alone
