Air France Flight 296Q

Uncommon card · No. 166372

Air France Flight 296Q was a chartered flight of a new Airbus A320 operated by Air Charter International for Air France. On 26 June 1988, the plane crashed while making a low pass over Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield (ICAO: LFGB), France, as part of the Habsheim Air Show. Most of the crash sequence, which occurred in front of several thousand spectators, was caught on video. This was the aircraft's first passenger flight following delivery and most of those on board were journalists and raffle competition winners who had won tickets in a promotional event by local businesses. The low-speed flyover, with landing gear down, was supposed to take place at an altitude of 100 feet (30 m); instead, the plane performed the flyover at 30 ft (9 m), skimmed the treetops of the forest at the end of the runway (which had not been shown on the airport map given to the pilots) and crashed. All 136 passengers survived the initial impact, but three died of smoke inhalation from the subsequent fire; a quadriplegic...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Original Photographer Unknown, Public domain