Air France Flight 2005
Sud Aviation Caravelle · Error in instrument reading
From Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) to Mohammed V International Airport (CMN)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 77 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 77
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Sud Aviation Caravelle
- Flight
- AF2005
- Aircraft type
- Sud AVIATION CARAVELLE
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- F-BJTB
- Operator
- Air France
- Onboard fatalities
- 77
- Route
- From Paris-Orly Airport (ORY)To Mohammed V International Airport (CMN)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Air France Flight 2005 of 12 September 1961 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Paris-Orly Airport to Casablanca Airport with a stop at Rabat-Salé Airport. The Sud Aviation Caravelle aircraft crashed that day at 21:09 GMT near a place called Douar Doum 8.4 km from the threshold of runway 04 and 1.4 km to the left of the extended centreline at a height of 87.5 m above sea level, killing all 77 people on board, including 6 crew members. The weather was foggy and unfavourable for landing.
Flight history
The aircraft left Paris (ORY) at 18:26 GMT for the first leg to Rabat with passengers and load within limits and fuel for four hours. The flight was uneventful until approaching Rabat/Salè airport. At 21:09 GMT the aircraft hit the ground before reaching the runway. It was completely destroyed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The investigation concluded that there was no evidence of technical failure, neither for physical failure of the personnel nor of air traffic control. Weather conditions were very unfavourable for landing at Rabat/Salé and fast changing and deteriorating shortly before the accident. The pilot took advice from the Air France operations agent in Casablanca and considered proceeding directly to Casablanca because of the weather.
During the flight the crew reviewed the weather several times with the air traffic control and finally decided to land at Rabat, using the non-directional beacon (NDB). Air traffic control warned the pilot that the NDB was not aligned with the runway, but this message received no response.
The investigation reported an "Error in instrument reading" as probable cause.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Air France Flight 2005” (revision 1349251326, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Air France Flight 2005
- Article
- Air France Flight 2005
- Revision
- 1349251326 · 2026-04-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4697989
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Air France Flight 2005" (page 23775871, revision 1349251326)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.