Paris-Orly

Following an uneventful flight from Paris-Orly, the crew was cleared to descend to FL070 at 2049LT then to FL060 at 2055LT. Then the crew was instructed to turn right to 178° to the VOR of Vienne but after passing VNE VOR, he followed a wrong track off 155°. At 2058LT, the crew was transferred from Lyon-Satolas Approach to Valence Approach with whom the radio contact was established 30 seconds later. The crew was cleared to descend to 3,500 feet for a specified arrival route Vienne - Valence. A right turn to 200° was initiated when, at a speed of 187 knots, the aircraft struck the vertical cliff of 'Pierre Chauve' (1,260 meters high) located near Léoncel. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 22 occupants were killed.

Following a night takeoff at Montluçon-Guéret Airport, while in initial climb, the aircraft nosed down and struck the ground 600 meters past the runway end. It slid for few dozen meters, collided with bushes and eventually came to rest, bursting into flames. All four occupants were killed. It appears that the Stall Avoidance System (SAS) had activated, resulting in the stick pusher activation at a critical altitude. The Metro's SAS system, as well as the SAS system on this particular aircraft, had a history of problems. These problems resulted in several NTSB Safety Recommendations (A-84-66, A-88-154). The copilot was at controls at the time of the accident.
Crew:
Gérard Van Der Veecken, pilot,
Christian Rémondon, copilot.
Passengers:
Robert Aupetit,
Patrick Desdoit.

Following an uneventful flight from Nancy-Essey Airport, the crew started the descent to Paris-Orly Airport and was cleared to reduce his altitude to 6,000 feet. At that time, weather conditions were marginal with poor visibility due to fog. Suddenly, the aircraft pitched down and entered an uncontrolled descent with a rate of 16,000 feet per minute during the last 20 seconds. Out of control, the aircraft struck the metallic pylon of a high voltage powerline and eventually crashed at an excessive speed of 630 km/h in an open field located in Machault, about 46 km southeast of Paris-Orly Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 24 occupants were killed.

During the takeoff roll on runway 36L at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, at a speed of 110 knots, the captain started the rotation while the engine n°4 was not running properly. After liftoff, the aircraft banked right, causing the right wing tip to struck the runway surface. Out of control, the aircraft stalled and crashed 136 meters to the right of the runway. It broke in two and burst into flames. All four occupants were injured.

Following an uneventful cargo flight from Paris-Orly Airport, the crew started the descent to Baghdad Airport when the airplane was shot down by the pilot of an Iranian Air Force Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter. Out of control, the airplane crashed in a huge explosion, killing all 4 occupants.

Following an uneventful cargo flight from Paris-Orly Airport, the crew started the descent to Douala Airport in marginal weather conditions. On short final, the airplane encountered low level windshear. Control was lost and the aircraft banked left, causing the left wing to struck the runway surface. Upon impact, the left main gear was torn off as well as both engines n°1 and 2. The aircraft veered off runway to the left, made a 270° turn then came to rest. All three crew members escaped with minor injuries while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair, the left wing being partially torn off.

On final approach to Paris-Orly Airport, the twin engine crash landed in a field, lost its undercarriage and came to rest on its belly. All 13 occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

While parked at Paris-Orly Airport with 15 passengers and a crew of three on board, the airplane suffered an accident in unclear circumstances. All 18 occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Flight KE902 departed Paris-Orly Airport at 1339LT on a flight to Seoul with an intermediate stop in Anchorage. After passing the North Magnetic Pole, while approaching Ellesmere Island, Canada, the airplane initiated a turn to the right by 150° instead continuing straight-in to North Canada and Alaska. This caused the airplane to fly to the southeast, over the Barents Sea and then into Soviet airspace, reaching the Soviet coast approximately three hours and 2,400 km after its right turn. The aircraft was intercepted by a Soviet Air Force Sukhoi SU-15TM and was forced to land. For reasons undetermined, the Korean crew did not respond to multiple requests and initiated a turn when the Soviet pilot was instructed to shoot down the Boeing 707. One of the air/air missile struck the left wing and four meters were torn off. The missile also punctured the fuselage, causing rapid decompression and jamming one of the plane's four turbines. From an altitude of 30,000 feet, the crew initiated a rapid descent and eventually completed an emergency landing on the frozen Korpijärvi Lake located in the region of Kem, Republic of Karelia. Two passengers were killed during the attack while all other occupants were evacuated, 13 were injured. Both pilots and the navigator were arrested but released on April 29.

On Sunday March 3, 1974 flight TK981 departed Istanbul for a flight to Paris and London. The DC-10 landed at Paris-Orly at 11:02 and taxied to stand A2. There were 167 passengers on board, of whom 50 disembarked. The aircraft was refueled and baggage was loaded onto the plane. The planned turnaround time of one hour was delayed by 30 minutes. An additional 216 passengers embarked. Most of the passengers were booked on this flight because of a strike at British Airways. The door of the aft cargo compartment on the left-hand side was closed at about 11:35. When all preparations were complete the flight received permission to taxi to runway 08 at 12:24. Four minutes later the crew were cleared to line up for departure and were cleared for departure route 181 and an initial climb to flight level 40. The aircraft took off at approximately 12:30 and was cleared by Orly Departure to climb to FL60, which was reached at 12:34. The North Area Control Centre then cleared TK981 further to FL230. Three or four seconds before 12:40:00 hours, the noise of decompression was heard and the co-pilot said: "the fuselage has burst" and the pressurization aural warning sounded. This was caused by the opening and separation of the aft left-hand cargo door. The pressure difference in the cargo bay and passenger cabin, the floor above the cargo door partly collapsed. Two occupied tripe seat units were ejected from the aircraft. All the horizontal stabilizer and elevator control cables routed beneath the floor of the DC-10 and were thus also severely disrupted. Also the no. 2 engine power was lost almost completely. The aircraft turned 9 deg to the left and pitched nose down. The nose-down attitude increased rapidly to -20 deg. Although the no. 1 and 3 engines were throttled back the speed increased to 360 kts. The pitch attitude then progressively increased to -4 degrees and the speed became steady at 430 kts (800 km/h). At a left bank of 17 degrees the DC-10 crashed into the forest of Ermenonville, 37 km NE of Paris. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 346 occupants were killed, among them 48 Japanese citizens and almost 250 British people.