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Air France Flight 296 was a chartered flight of a newly-delivered fly-by-wire Airbus A320-111 operated by Air France. On June 26, 1988, as part of an air show it was scheduled to fly over Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport (ICAO code LFGB) at a low speed with landing gear down at an altitude of 100 feet, but instead slowly descended to 30 feet before crashing into the tops of trees beyond the runway. Three passengers died. The cause of the accident is disputed, as many irregularities were later revealed by the accident investigation. This was the first ever crash involving an Airbus A320.

Official report

The official report states^[1] the causes of the accident were:

• Very low flyover height, lower than surrounding obstacles.
• Very low speed, reduced to reach maximum possible angle of attack.
• Engines idling during flight.
• Late application of go-around power.

This combination led to the impact of the aircraft with the trees.

The Commission believed that if the descent below 100 feet was not deliberate, it may have resulted from failure to take proper account of the visual and aural information intended to give the height of the aircraft.

Disputed account

A320 operation anomalies

Third-party investigations into the crash dispute the official findings.^[2] Captain Asseline asserted the altimeter read 100 feet (30 m) despite video evidence that the plane was as low as 30 feet (10 m). He also reported that the engines didn't respond to his throttle input as he attempted to increase power. The month prior to the accident, Airbus posted two Operational Engineering Bulletins indicating anomalous behaviour noted in the A320 aircraft. These bulletins were received by Air France but not sent out to pilots until after the accident:

OEB 19/1: Engine Acceleration Deficiency at Low Altitude

This OEB noted that the engines may not respond to throttle input at low altitude.

OEB 06/2: Baro-Setting Cross Check

This OEB stated that the barometric altitude indication on the A320 did not always function properly.

These malfunctions could have caused both the lack of power when the throttle was increased, and the inability of the crew to recognize the sharp sink rate as the plane passed 100 feet into the trees.

Investigation irregularities

According to French Law, the Flight data recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder are to be immediately retrieved by the police in the event of an aircraft accident. However, the recorders were taken by the civil aviation authorities and held for 10 days until they were finally confiscated. When the recorders were returned, they had been physically opened and the magnetic tape had been tampered with. It could not even be verified that they were the original recorders. The four seconds of recording immediately prior to the crash were missing. In view of this, a judicial report alleged that the aircraft's flight recorders could have been tampered with shortly after the crash.^[3]

Outcome

The accident and resulting fire killed 3 of the 130 passengers; of the 3 dead, 1 was an adult and the other 2 were young children. It is believe the adult, a female, tried to help one of the young children before becoming overcome by smoke. Captain Asseline and First Officer Mazière, two Air France officials and the president of the flying club sponsoring the air show were charged with manslaughter. All 5 were found guilty. Captain Asseline was sentenced to 6 months in prison, plus 12 months' probation; the others were sentenced to probation. In appeal his sentence was increased to 10 months of imprisonment plus 10 months on probation. Asseline walked free from the court and said he would appeal to France's Supreme Court, the Cour de Cassation. According to French law, Asseline was required to submit himself to the prison system before his case could be taken up by the Supreme Court.

Dramatization

On 8 March 2010, an episode of Mayday (Air Crash Investigation, Air Emergency) series featuring this accident was broadcasted.

See also

	France portal
	Aviation portal

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• List of airshow accidents and incidents

References

← 1987 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1988 1989→ Avianca Flight 410 (March 17) — Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (April 28) — Widerøe Flight 710 (May 6) — TACA Flight 110 (May 24) — Air France Flight 296 (June 26) — Iran Air Flight 655 (July 3) — British International Helicopters Sikorsky S-61N crash (July 13) — Zia-ul-Haq (August 17) — Ramstein airshow disaster (August 28) — Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 (August 31) — Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604 (September 15) — Indian Airlines Flight 113 (October 19) — 1988 Mexico Learjet 24 crash (October 25) — LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703 (November 2) — Remscheid A-10 crash (December 8) — Pan Am Flight 103 (December 21) Bold blue indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths — Red indicates the deadliest incident in 1988