1974: Turkish jet crashes killing 345
A Turkish Airlines DC10 has crashed near Paris killing all 345 people on board.
The plane was on a regular flight from Ankara to London via Paris. It came down just minutes after take-off at 1235 GMT, scything a mile-long trail through the forest of Ermenonville.
Among the victims were 200 passengers, many of them British, who had been transferred from British Airways flights cancelled because of a strike by engineers at London airport.
No-one was killed on the ground, although the forest is popular with walkers.
Only blackened stumps of trees remained where the pilot had probably attempted a crash landing. Bits of clothing and other wreckage from the plane were strewn across the whole area.
No-one to rescue
Hundreds of rescue workers, from the Red Cross, Protection Civile as well as fire and ambulance crews, were on the scene within half an hour.
But there was no-one to be rescued. All that remained to be done was to collect the bodies and take them to the church of St Pierre at Senlis.
From there, soldiers transferred the bodies onto army vehicles during the night to be driven to the medical centre in Paris, where they will be examined by forensic scientists.
Eyewitnesses in the nearby village of St Pathu said they heard an explosion and saw flames coming from the plane long before it plunged into the forest.
Some bodies were found close to the village, about six miles from the crash site, which also suggests the plane may have exploded in mid-air.
Crash investigators looking for clues to the world’s worst air disaster to date will start by studying the jet’s engines. They are also looking for the black box flight recorder.
The possibility of sabotage has not been discounted.
Among the victims were 17 members of Bury St Edmunds rugby club, returning from a trip to Paris.
In Context
British trade union leader James Conway, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, an Olympic silver medallist and four leading London models were among those killed in the crash. The final death toll was 346.
The Paris crash was the worst in aviation history up to this date and the first involving a fully-loaded wide-bodied jet since they had entered passenger service four years before.
The accident was probably caused by a cargo door coming open during the flight, leading to a sudden loss of pressure inside the cabin and causing part of the flooring to collapse which damaged the controls and made it impossible for the crew to regain control.
An almost identical accident had happened in June 1972 when a DC10 lost its rear cargo door, causing the floor to buckle and jam some of the controls. Safety recommendations made following that crash had not been implemented
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/3/newsid_2514000/2514823.stm
BBC news do a “on this day” thing on their site and once in a while its a aviation related news story.
By: bkonner - 5th March 2005 at 01:59
Paulc, you are correct. It was the AA accident that caused the grounding. I was in Honolulu at the time (a kid then) and my flight back to Boston was cancelled because of this.
Bkonner
By: bkonner - 5th March 2005 at 01:59
Paulc, you are correct. It was the AA accident that caused the grounding. I was in Honolulu at the time (a kid then) and my flight back to Boston was cancelled because of this.
Bkonner
By: Ren Frew - 4th March 2005 at 13:29
I watched a programme about the Paris crash a few years ago. The explosion was so violent that they were still able to find little bits of scorched metal and wiring lying in the woods some 25 years later.
By: Ren Frew - 4th March 2005 at 13:29
I watched a programme about the Paris crash a few years ago. The explosion was so violent that they were still able to find little bits of scorched metal and wiring lying in the woods some 25 years later.
By: paulc - 4th March 2005 at 07:33
Bmused,
I thought it was the American Airlines DC10 crash at O’hare that caused the grounding of the DC10’s? You are correct in saying that the aft cargo door was the cause however the behind the crash go further back. Several months before the THY crash an American Airlines DC10 suffered a similar aft cargo door failure and partial floor collapse but the controls were not broken and the crew made a safe landing. This led to a strengthening of the rear floor area and a redesign of the latching mechanism as it was found that it could be closed, indicate latched but the locking pins may not be fully in the correct position. Another factor to consider is that MCD were in the process of moving production to Long Beach and in the process 1 aircraft mod’s were not done – this became TC-JAW? the one that crashed in Paris. There was no excuse for this to be missed but like a lot of aircraft accidents there is a chain of often small occurences that in isolation may not be a problem but put together lead to disaster.
Another interesting point is the vunerability of the hydraulic systems for the tail control surfaces ie the UTD DC10 at Sioux City where an uncontained No2 engine failure broke the hydraulic lines and the subsequent crash and loss of life.
Lockheed on the other hand had considered this and routed one hydraulic line away from the others so reducing the risk of damaging all 3 at the same time. If you ever see along the top of the fuselage of a L1011 you will see this alternative route.
By: paulc - 4th March 2005 at 07:33
Bmused,
I thought it was the American Airlines DC10 crash at O’hare that caused the grounding of the DC10’s? You are correct in saying that the aft cargo door was the cause however the behind the crash go further back. Several months before the THY crash an American Airlines DC10 suffered a similar aft cargo door failure and partial floor collapse but the controls were not broken and the crew made a safe landing. This led to a strengthening of the rear floor area and a redesign of the latching mechanism as it was found that it could be closed, indicate latched but the locking pins may not be fully in the correct position. Another factor to consider is that MCD were in the process of moving production to Long Beach and in the process 1 aircraft mod’s were not done – this became TC-JAW? the one that crashed in Paris. There was no excuse for this to be missed but like a lot of aircraft accidents there is a chain of often small occurences that in isolation may not be a problem but put together lead to disaster.
Another interesting point is the vunerability of the hydraulic systems for the tail control surfaces ie the UTD DC10 at Sioux City where an uncontained No2 engine failure broke the hydraulic lines and the subsequent crash and loss of life.
Lockheed on the other hand had considered this and routed one hydraulic line away from the others so reducing the risk of damaging all 3 at the same time. If you ever see along the top of the fuselage of a L1011 you will see this alternative route.
By: Bmused55 - 3rd March 2005 at 14:36
A sad day/
I beleive it was this event that cause a worldwide grounding of all DC-10’s? Causing a rather large problem for Freddie Laker and his “skytrain” service, operated soley by DC-10s!
Having read into this many times. I can tell you the cause was the after cargo door. It was weak due to a faulty locking mechanism. As the outside air pressure and cabin pressure difference rose, the cargo door was literally blown out. The decompression cause the floor of the cabin above the door to collapse. This cause several control cables to be cut, rendering the horizontal stabilisers useless.
End of story, without those, the only place a plane is going is down. 🙁
By: Bmused55 - 3rd March 2005 at 14:36
A sad day/
I beleive it was this event that cause a worldwide grounding of all DC-10’s? Causing a rather large problem for Freddie Laker and his “skytrain” service, operated soley by DC-10s!
Having read into this many times. I can tell you the cause was the after cargo door. It was weak due to a faulty locking mechanism. As the outside air pressure and cabin pressure difference rose, the cargo door was literally blown out. The decompression cause the floor of the cabin above the door to collapse. This cause several control cables to be cut, rendering the horizontal stabilisers useless.
End of story, without those, the only place a plane is going is down. 🙁
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March 3, 2005 at 2:17 pm