Air France Flight 1611

Air France Flight 1611 (AF1611) was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III en route from Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica, to Nice, mainland France, on 11 September 1968 when it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off Nice, killing all 95 on board. According to the official report, the crash was non-survivable. The Ajaccio–Nice Caravelle crash is the deadliest aviation incident in the Mediterranean Sea to date. The accident circumstances are still not clear.

The technical investigation stated that the probable cause was attributed to a fire of uncertain origin which originated in the rear passenger toilet, that propagated until the aircraft control was lost.

There was early speculation that the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile, since there is a firing area not far from the crash site. Although the hypothesis was officially discarded by the inquiry board, many victims' relatives still have doubts and have asked to have access to classified documents about the event, which was supported in 2019 by President Emmanuel Macron.

Accident

The Caravelle involved took off from Ajaccio at 10:09 local time, bound for Nice. The first part of the flight was without incident and the weather conditions were sunny. At 10:30 local time, on descending between flight level 90 (9,000 feet, 2,700 m) to flight level 70 (7,000 feet, 2,100 m) the flight crew declared an emergency mentioning a fire on board (listening to the flight recordings shows that the captain was reportedly concerned about events on board as early as 10:28 local time).

The Air traffic control immediately authorizes the airplane to take a direct route and to give the airplane priority to landing. At 10:32 the crew declared, "We have sight of the ground and good visibility." The radio and radar contact was lost after a final contact at 10:33, at 40–45 km from Nice, and the rescue services were triggered.

A kerosene slick and floating debris were discovered at 11:22 a.m., confirming that the plane had crashed into the sea. There were no survivors among the 89 passengers and six crew members on board.

Flight crew

The crew was formed by six members:

The captain was 35 years old Michael Salomon, with 8,836 flight hours;

The first officer was 32 years old Emile Duvinage, with 4,293 flight hours;

The flight engineer was 38 years old Roger Juan, with 4,364 flight hours;

The cabin crew chief was 31 years old Michel Gérard, with 3,588 flight hours;

The flight attendant was 29 years old Geneviève Tricot, with 774 flight hours;

The trainee flight attendant was 22 years old Michèle Orry, with 139 flight hours.