1963 Air Nautic Vickers Viking crash
Vickers VC.1 Viking · Controlled flight into terrain
From London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to Perpignan-Rivesaltes (Llabanère) Airport (PGF)
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
- 40 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 40
- 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
Vickers VC.1 Viking
- Aircraft type
- Vickers VC-1
- 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-BJER
- Operator
- Air Nautic
- Onboard fatalities
- 40
- Route
- From London Gatwick Airport (LGW)To Perpignan-Rivesaltes (Llabanère) Airport (PGF)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Organizational issues › Management
- Personnel issues › Physical
- 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
On 12 September 1963, a Vickers Viking of Air Nautic (also referred as AirNautic) operating as a charter passenger flight from London-Gatwick to Perpignan crashed into the north face of the Canigó mountain near the small town of Py in France. In the accident, all 40 occupants were killed.
It was the second fatal air crash in less than a year for Air Nautic. On 29 December 1962, 25 people had been killed in the crash of an Air Nautic Boeing 307.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The accident was investigated by the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA).
In June 1964, the BEA published their findings. The crew made navigation errors after selecting a direct route without reporting their position. Weather conditions were poor and there was limited equipment in Perpignan. The crew also failed to use the Toulouse and Istres VORs for accurate positioning. Air Nautic was aware that the captain and the copilot did not meet the required qualifications for operating a public transport aircraft. Additionally, Air Nautic did not provide the crew with operational instructions that might have prevented the accident. Finally, the crew was in a state of fatigue, which may have affected their performance.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1963 Air Nautic Vickers Viking crash” (revision 1364983000, 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: 1963 Air Nautic Vickers Viking crash
- Revision
- 1364983000 · 2026-07-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q135324764
- 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 "1963 Air Nautic Vickers Viking crash" (page 80440962, revision 1364983000)
- 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An Air Nautic Viking on a passenger charter flight: an airline flight. The article: "a Vickers Viking of Air Nautic (also referred as AirNautic) operating as a charter passenger flight from London-Gatwick to Perpignan"
- 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.