Today in History: Infamous Air France Flight 343 Crash

By Idy Perl

Today, August 29, is the day of the tragic Air France Flight 343 crash that occurred in 1960. Flight 343 departed from Paris and was making its way to Abidjan, Africa, with stops in Dakar and Monrovia. 

When the aircraft got close to Dakar, overcast conditions caused low visibility and the pilot was forced to abort the landing. Air traffic control offered an instrument landing system, which would guide him to a safe landing, but the pilot refused the help. He decided to circle for a few minutes, hoping that conditions would improve. 

After a few minutes the pilot tried landing again and was forced to abort the landing again, but this time he aborted too late and overflew the airport, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. The plane struck the water at a steep angle, killing all 55 passengers on board as well as the flight crew. 

The investigation following the crash found that the pilot had been reprimanded by the airline in the past for reckless behavior. Investigators couldn’t determine the cause of the crash and proposed a number of possibilities, like turbulence or an instrument failure, but the pilot’s decision to deny the assistance from air traffic control was ruled by the Court of Appeals of Paris as willful misconduct, and very likely played a part in the crash. 

photo: Wikipedia