Air France Flight 117

Air France Flight 117 was a multi-leg international scheduled flight operated by a Boeing 707 from Paris-Orly Airport via Lisbon, the Azores, Guadeloupe and Peru to Santiago, Chile, which crashed on 22 June 1962 killing 113 people.

This was the second accident in less than three weeks with an Air France Boeing 707 after the crash on 3 June 1962.

Accident

The aircraft involved, a Boeing 707–328, was four months old at the time of the accident. The flight was uneventful until approaching Pointe-à-Pitre. The airport is surrounded by mountains and requires a steep descent. The weather was poor – violent thunderstorm and low cloud ceiling. The VOR navigational beacon was out of service. The crew reported themselves over the non-directional beacon (NDB) at 5,000 feet (1,524 m) and turned east to begin the final approach. Due to incorrect automatic direction finder (ADF) readings caused by the thunderstorm, the plane strayed 15 km (9.3 mi) west from the procedural let-down track. The plane crashed in a forest on a hill called Dos D'Ane ("The Donkey's Back"), at about 1,400 feet (427 m) and exploded. There were no survivors.

Among the dead were French Guianan politician and war hero Justin Catayée, poet and black-consciousness activist Paul Niger, and Wanda Llosa, first cousin of future Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.