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Air Inter Flight 696Y

27 Oct 1972 · Noirétable, France

Vickers Viscount 724 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error

From Lyon Bron Airport (LYN) to Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne airport (CFE)

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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
60 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
68
Survivors
8
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
3
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

Vickers Viscount 724

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-BMCH
Operator
Air Inter
Onboard fatalities
60
Route
From Lyon Bron Airport (LYN)To Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne airport (CFE)

Approximate · Estimated position: Noirétable, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

Air Inter Flight 696Y was a scheduled revenue passenger flight from Lyon–Bron Airport to Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport, France. On 27 October 1972, the aircraft operating the flight, a Vickers Viscount 724, crashed during the final approach to Clermont Ferrand Auvergne Airport. Of the 68 occupants on board, 60 perished.

Accident

On October 27, 1972, the Vickers Viscount 724 took off from Lyon–Bron Airport at 18:48, operating Flight 696 to Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport. In Clermont, most passengers would take a flight to Bordeaux from Paris.

The Vickers Viscount was carrying 63 passengers and 5 crew. It took off from Lyon in a violent storm, its last radio contact with the Lyon control tower being at 7:20pm and not responding to subsequent calls.

While approaching to land at Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport, it crashed around 7:20 pm in the La Faye forest, almost on top of the Mont Picot massif at an altitude of 1000 meters, in the Forez mountains. The accident occurred on the border of the departments of Loire, commune of Noirétable, and Puy-de-Dôme, commune of Viscomtat, with the massif between the two villages.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Air Inter Flight 696Y” (revision 1364981212, 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 Inter Flight 696Y
Article
Air Inter Flight 696Y
Revision
1364981212 · 2026-07-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q97329973
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 Inter Flight 696Y" (page 69990847, revision 1364981212)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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.