2000 Charles de Gaulle runway collision
Air Liberté McDonnell Douglas MD-83 and Streamline Aviation Shorts 330‑200 · Runway incursion due to ATC error
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA00WA054
- 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
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 159
- Survivors
- 158
- 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
- 1
- 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
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Unknown
Aircraft 1 · McDonnell Douglas MD-83
- Flight
- IJ8077
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas MD-83
- Category
- Airplane
- 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‑GHED
- Operator
- Air Liberté
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 157
- Survivors
- 157
- 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
- Not stated
- Route
- From Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)To Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Shorts 330‑200
- Flight
- SSW200
- Aircraft type
- Shorts 330
- 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
- G‑SSWN
- Operator
- Streamline Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- 1
- Route
- From Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)To Luton Airport, London, United Kingdom
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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
On 25 May 2000, Air Liberté Flight 8807, a passenger charter flight operated by a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (F‑GHED), collided with a Shorts 330‑200 freighter (G‑SSWN) operating as Streamline Aviation Flight 200 at Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport during a runway incursion; the first officer of Flight 200 was killed and the captain was seriously injured, while on board Flight 8807 there were no injuries. The accident was blamed on the air traffic controller mistakenly thinking that Flight 200 was behind Flight 8807 when it was on the runway.
Accident
Streamline Aviation Flight 200 was cleared to "line up and wait, number two" from taxiway 16. However, the tower controller mistakenly believed the aircraft was positioned behind the MD‑83 operating as Air Liberté Flight 8807, when in reality, Flight 200 was entering the runway from taxiway 16. Flight 8807 was then cleared for takeoff and began its roll. Flight 200 made visual with Flight 8807 via their beacon lights, and immediately tried to brake. At approximately 155 knots, the MD‑83's left wing impacted the cockpit of the Shorts 330. The first officer on Flight 200 was killed instantly in the accident, while the captain sustained serious injuries. The MD‑83 aborted the takeoff safely.
The collision occurred at night under complex traffic conditions, including intersection departures, a high ATC workload, and limited visibility due to lighting conditions.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The French BEA concluded that the accident was caused by a mental model error by the controller believing the Shorts was behind the MD-83, when in reality, it was in front of the MD-83. Other factors included miscommunication between ground and tower controllers, confusing bilingual radio traffic, poor visibility, and the Shorts crew not confirming their position.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2000 Charles de Gaulle runway collision” (revision 1356763092, 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: 2000 Charles de Gaulle runway collision
- Revision
- 1356763092 · 2026-05-29 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q135287568
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA00WA054
- Event ID
- 20001212X20969
- Case number
- DCA00WA054
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2000 Charles de Gaulle runway collision" (page 80307940, revision 1356763092); merged with NTSB case DCA00WA054 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: 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); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA00WA054
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Reviewed (2026-09-19): BEA final report on F-GHED / G-SSWN collision, sec. 1.2, https://asn.flightsafety.org/reports/2000/20000525_MD83_F-GHED.pdf
- Ground fatalities
- Reviewed (2026-09-19): BEA final report on F-GHED / G-SSWN collision, sec. 1.2, https://asn.flightsafety.org/reports/2000/20000525_MD83_F-GHED.pdf
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2000 Charles de Gaulle runway collision" and NTSB case DCA00WA054, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Death toll settled: the NTSB record (DCA00WA054) gives 0 and the Wikipedia article 1; BEA final report on F-GHED / G-SSWN collision, sec. 1.2 gives 1. BEA: the Shorts 330 (G-SSWN) first officer was killed and the captain seriously injured; no injuries on the MD-83. The NTSB notification record simply has no fatality count (0).
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.