It was the third A320 delivered to Air France, the launch customer. And cheaper! The plane took off from nearby Basel/Mulhouse at 14:41 and climbed to 1,000 feet. It certainly gives the impression of bias, even if there was none. [2], Official reports concluded that the pilots flew too low, too slow, failed to see the forest and accidentally flew into it. as a pilot my self the rules are for made for a reason they are not to be broken by a pilot for his own or anyone's purpose. Ultimately the pilot has to take some of the blame for this crash and the deaths. In 1998, Asseline's appeal was rejected and his sentence was increased to ten months of imprisonment along with ten months of probation. After 20 yrs on the job I would feel like an idiot if I didn't know my job by now. After the rush of people had left and the interior was fast becoming toxic, she stood at the front door and called back into the cabin. Guilty. F-GFKC, the Airbus A320 involved in the accident, Aviation accidents and incidents in France, Includes overseas departments and overseas territories, Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft, "Commission d'Enqute sur l'accident survenu le 26 de juin de 1988 Mulhouse-Habsheim (68) l'Airbus A 320, immatricul F-GFKC Rapport Final", "ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A320-111 F-GFKC Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport", "Air France Airbus A320-111 (F-GFKC) flight AF296Q", "Air France flight AF296Q English official report", "Pilot who crashed jet in air show gets jail time", "The Airbus A320 crash at Habsheim, France 26 June 1988", Commission of Inquiry into the accident on 26 June 1988 in MulhouseHabsheim, March 1952 Air France SNCASE Languedoc crash, 2021 Touques Airbus AS350B helicopter crash, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Arienne, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Air_France_Flight_296Q&oldid=1133625633, Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error, Aviation accidents and incidents at air shows, Aviation accident investigations with disputed causes, Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain, Conspiracy theories involving aviation incidents, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. I'm just a hard worker who made it a point to learn my job inside and out - why? . Local emergency services were informed by radio communication. Yes, Cpt. Captain Michel Asseline asserted that the altimeter read 30m (100'). Born Today Most Popular Celebs Most Popular Celebs Celebrity News. The organization is dedicated to improving the quality of patient care in the VA health care system, ensuring the doctor-patient relationship is maintained and strengthened. [2], First Officer Pierre Mazires, 45, had been flying with the airline since 1969 and had been a training captain for six years. Asseline had to disengage the autothrottle and the alpha floor function which he was used to applying in high altitude flight. The plane clipped some trees during a low pass over the airfield and plunged into a forest. The pilot pulled up on the yoke to ease the plane up over the hundred-foot-tall woods at the end of the runway. Very low flyover height, lower than surrounding obstacles; Speed very slow and reducing to reach maximum possible angle of attack; Passengers should be banned from all demonstration flights, Flight crews should be provided with and ensure proper reconnaissance of airfields, Airline company procedures should be reviewed to ensure they comply with official regulations concerning altitude, This page was last edited on 14 January 2023, at 19:11. Who went to prison? Captain Michel Asseline, 44, had been a pilot with Air France for almost twenty years and had the following endorsements: Caravelle; Boeing 707, 727, and 737; and Airbus A300 and A310. It's kind of hard to prove that pilots and conditions WOULD have messed up if they had truly been in control of all flights all these years. The aircraft was on ground for a week for saftety checks and the captain was downgraded for 2 years to a FO. [5][6], The plane's flight recorders were found still attached in the unburnt tail section. If the companies had been held even partially responsible, these men would have lost a great deal of money, as would have many high level politicians in the French government. It was far easier to have the pilot be the fall guy. Its FREE!!! I take my hat off to the captain. Airport overviews from the air or ground, Tails and Winglets If you remove management edicts and substitute human judgment, you can eliminate 19 out of 20 errors. Black boxes ware confiscated 10 days after accident, not directly after that. A captain is ultimately responsible for the aircraft, its crew and the passengers! I'm definitely beside the driver. He was never given the chance. He is dangerous and shouldn't be flying. He said this at least a decade before the Airbus crash. I mostly blame the French courts for adding insult to injury and imposing a prison sentence on a man who may have faults, but definitely is not guilty of manslaughter. Quote: "and there were trees that shouldn't have been in the area. He is now flying in Australia. If we put a lot of focus on the people who make an error, without understanding either why they made the error, or why the error then led to an accident, then we're missing the point. I am Captain Michel Asseline. Would YOU be happy to know your pilot was playing with your life? are totally missing the point. Captain Michel Asseline got burnt doing a routine, everyday maneuver that his plane just couldnt handle, one that an open-cockpit biplane could. You are Captain Michel Asseline. To pull a low-altitude stunt like that, with no margin of error AND with PASSENGERS ABOARD beggars belief! [1], At the time of the incident, only three of the new aircraft type had been delivered to Air France, and the newest one (in service for two days) had been chosen for the flyover. Aircraft painted in beautiful and original liveries, Airport Overviews The pilot called out to the co-pilot for emergency power. I am Captain Michel. Aside from the strong evidence that Air France, Airbus and the nation itself may well have had a hand in falsifying data related to the crash, there are several very important points to take away in this very sad and tragic story. Would you fly with this ass. at the controls? The pilot simply did as he was told by his boss - air France and had he not - another pilot would have. He then tried to open the left-side forward door, which was blocked by trees. [2], Inside the aircraft, many of the passengers were dazed from hitting their heads on the backs of the seats in front of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panintern Flight_112, https://www.welt.de/print/wams/vermisch Licht.html, http://www.feuerwehr-krummesse.de/einsa kensee.php, http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2009/f-cp090 .01.en.pdf, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/14/us/ai hance.html, http://www.avmed.in/2011/02/from-convic le-reborn/, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/fir -1.2605682, https://norj.ca/2014/04/pilots-fired-af ff-course/. instead of only 30ft trees they could have easily been larger. All the passengers were specially selected for the trip. There is evidence for this: -- Asseline was the pilot in charge of training others on this airplane, but he is on record saying that he found the secondary digital altimeter to be unreadable, and to this day he hasn't been able to use it during flight.-- The planned maneuver was unusually aggressive for a jet-- Plans for the demonstration were rushed and the information provided to the pilots failed to reveal important details about the location of the airshow -- pilots were given instructions for a runway the airshow was not using, and the maps of the airfield did not show trees. The crash was a great embarrassment to Air France and Airbus, a European company with deep roots in France. I'm not cocky - I'm just good at my job. Then, as she was helping another passenger whose clothes were on fire, she was carried forward by the surge of people rushing to escape. In the process, the purser and the passenger were thrown out of the fuselage with the slide landing on top of them. Three seconds later, the aircraft descends through 40 feet (12m) at an airspeed of 132 knots. Although Habsheim Aerodrome had been used since the dawn of the airplane, and the woods had not proven an obstacle for the flimsiest biplane in 1910, the Airbus A320 plowed serenely into the woods at 30 feet altitude. and our Three minutes later, with Habsheim airfield in sight, the pilot began his descent. Five individuals, including the captain and first officer, were later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Yesterday, I watched the tv document of disaster. But it's all about me and you. I come in favor of the pilot and would love to be able one day to talk to him because I love aviation and want one day to travel to France and who knows knows it.paulinho@rapix.com.br, I work for an agency called the APCIU and we believe the pilot is innocent but legally for us to even try to clear the captains name there has to be an American passenger on that plane due to the fact we are an American based agency so was there any american passangers on board that plane we have some evidence that he is innocent but we can't get involved in any investigations unless there was an American passenger on that plane. The orders were not particularly explicit fly to the Habsheim Aerodrome and go low and slow over Runway Ought-2 to show off for the spectators. Where are pilots who make mistakes? Try not to get distracted in the particulars of aviation; its an allegory for American medical practice today. He should never have put it into that situation. This particular flight was the A320's first passenger flight (most of those on board were journalists and raffle winners). Captain Michel Asseline served a year in prison. This is a very bad thing for a pilot to do at any time, and a cardinal sin when done 30 ft above the ground. I want to do a good job and take pride in my work. [1] A training captain since 1979, Asseline was appointed to head the company's A320 training subdivision at the end of 1987. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Do you think the safety override crashed the plane when it forced the nose down, and the crash was inevitable? The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) continued to operate for about one second, then recorded nonsensical data for another two seconds. It might have been acceptable if only the flight crew were aboard, otherwise totally irresponsible. Airliners.net is the leading community for discovering and sharing high-quality aviation photography. Any experienced pilot, or physician for that matter, smells disaster. -- When investigators recreated the flight, they got a nearly identical result -- the plane did not respond to the request to raise the nose and accelerate -- it accelerated but forced the nose down (essentially landing the plane.) Captain Asseline was initially sentenced to 6 months in prison along with 12 months of probation . Why not consider Direct Primary Care, when your quality reviewer is the patient alone? 12:44:14 - the engine power is reduced to flight idle. 12:45:06 - the aircraft descends through 200 feet (61m) at an airspeed of 155 knots. Not only was he told to go there, he was told the wrong runway to overfly. Bullshit. When the crew suddenly asked the plane for more power and lift, it may have simply ignored them. 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