Flight 2611 took off from Lille (LIL) at 11:51 GMT for a 81-minute IFR flight to Lyon (LYN) and Nice (NIC). The flight started its descent from FL150 at 13:00 and reported being over Tramoyes at FL40 nine minutes later. Lyon Control asked the flight to hold momentarily over Tramoyes at FL30, but a severe storm in the area forced the crew to request permission to descend to FL25. Lyon then cleared the flight for a straight-in approach to runway 17. The acknowledgment was the last thing heard from the flight. The Viscount was seen by eyewitnesses around 13:20, flying very low in an easterly direction in the heart of the storm. The plane struck trees, the roof of a farmhouse and a telephone pole before crashing into a field. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The Board considered that the aircraft would probably have landed safely if it had been able to carry through the approach it had initiated; that the accident resulted from exceptionally bad weather conditions in the area where the aircraft was holding at the request of Lyon Approach. The Board did not rule out the possibility of a flash of lightning dazzling the crew and causing temporary blindness or appreciably incapacitating both crew members.”