Incident Overview
Date: Wednesday 10 May 1961
Aircraft Type: Lockheed L-1649A Starliner
Owner/operator: Air France
Registration Number: F-BHBM
Location: 100 km N of Edjele –
ÿ Algeria
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 78 / Occupants: 78
Component Affected: The Lockheed L-1649 Starliner.The Lockheed L-1649 Starliner.
Category: Unlawful Interference
An Air France Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, carrying 78 passengers, crashed in the Sahara desert due to an in-flight explosion of a nitrocellulose explosive device. The flight originated from Brazzaville (BZV) to Paris with intermediate stops in Bangui, Central African Republic, Fort Lamy, and Marseille.An Air France Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, carrying 78 passengers, crashed in the Sahara desert due to an in-flight explosion of a nitrocellulose explosive device. The flight originated from Brazzaville (BZV) to Paris with intermediate stops in Bangui, Central African Republic, Fort Lamy, and Marseille.
Description
Air France flight 406, a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, crashed following the in-flight detonation of an explosive device, 100 km north of Edjele, Algeria, killing all 78 occupants. Flight AF406 was carried out by a Lockheed L-1649A Starliner named “De Grasse”. It was a scheduled flight from Brazzaville (BZV) to Paris with intermediate stops at Bangui Airport (BGF), Central African Republic, Fort Lamy Airport (NDJ), now N’Djamena in Chad, and Marseille. Cruising at an altitude of 20,000 feet the empennage failed. The Starliner broke up in flight and crashed in the Sahara desert. It is thought that the empennage broke away as a result of the detonation of a nitrocellulose explosive device.
Source of Information
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=53xWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HeYDAAAAIBAJ&dq=air%20france%20polly&pg=5307%2C2419532https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=53xWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HeYDAAAAIBAJ&dq=air%20france%20polly&pg=5307%2C2419532Primary Cause
Detonation of a nitrocellulose explosive device during in-flight operation.Detonation of a nitrocellulose explosive device during in-flight operation.Share on:
