Air France Flight 343
Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation · Crashed following aborted landing in rainy conditions; cause undetermined
From Paris, France to Abidjan, Ivory Coast
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
- 63 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 63
- 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
Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed L-1049
- 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-BHBC
- Operator
- Air France
- Onboard fatalities
- 63
- Route
- From Paris, FranceTo Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
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 343 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Paris, France, to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with scheduled stopovers at Dakar, Senegal, and Monrovia, Liberia. On 29 August 1960, around 06:50, the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while attempting to land at Yoff Airport, Dakar. All 55 passengers and 8 crew were killed. A tribunal concluded that the pilot, who had earlier been punished by Air France for recklessness, had continued to land without use of instruments in bad weather, amounting to willful misconduct.
Incident
The aircraft approached Yoff Airport, Dakar, in low overcast conditions just before sunrise on 29 August 1960. There was 7/8ths cloud cover at a height of 2000 - 3000 ft and visibility was rapidly changeable. There were rain squalls and thunderstorms.
The pilot attempted to land the aircraft on runway 01 but aborted this attempt. The pilot was offered an instrument landing system landing on runway 30 but declined and entered a holding pattern, hoping that weather conditions would improve. Shortly after 06:41 the pilot started a second landing approach on runway 01. The landing was aborted at 06:47 and the aircraft overflew the airport. The pilot made a report to air traffic control, giving his height as 1000 ft. Shortly afterwards the aircraft entered a rain squall.
The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean at a point around 1 mi offshore and 2.4 km from Les Mamelles Lighthouse. It struck the water at a steep angle and probably while banking to the right. All 55 passengers and 8 crew on board were killed, including the French West African poet David Diop.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and aftermath
The aircraft crashed in water 130 ft deep. A salvage attempt was made and, although most of the bodies were recovered, only 20 percent of the wreckage was brought back to shore. The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety investigated but could not determine the cause of the crash. It proposed a number of possibilities: a structural failure or loss of control caused by turbulence; a sensory illusion; distraction of the flight crew, possibly by a lightning strike; failure of an airspeed indicator or altimeter or faulty reading thereof.
A number of cases were brought against Air France for compensation under the Warsaw Convention by the families of the victims, including by Diop's widow. The Diop case was decided in 1964 at the Tribunal de grande instance de Seine, it was appealed to the Court of Appeal of Paris. The decision was made to award the basic level of compensation but not that Air France was particularly negligent. The court found the pilot, who had been earlier punished by Air France for recklessness, had continued to land without use of instruments in bad weather, amounting to wilful misconduct.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Air France Flight 343” (revision 1339312294, 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 343
- Article
- Air France Flight 343
- Revision
- 1339312294 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q107292932
- 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 343" (page 67853941, revision 1339312294)
- 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
- flight number in the article title
- 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.