1952 Lockheed 18 accident near Gao

The 1952 Lockheed 18 accident near Gao occurred on 24 March 1952. On that day a Lockheed 18-07-01 Lodestar, which was on an intercontinental charter flight from Abidjan to Nice with stopovers in Bobo-Dioulasso, Bamako, Gao, Tamanrasset, El Golea and Algiers, crashed immediately after take-off from Gao for the onward flight to Tamanrasset. In the accident, which was essentially caused by crew fatigue, 17 of the 21 occupants on board died.

Accident sequence

The aircraft was on the return leg of a charter flight that had begun in Nice on 21 March 1952 and led to Abidjan, in order finally to return to Nice. The crew spent the two intervening nights in Tamanrasset and Abidjan. An overnight stay at Tamanrasset Airport was planned for the return flight. The aircraft was ultimately delayed. In view of the fact that Tamanrasset Airport did not have markings that would allow a landing at night and in darkness, the captain decided to spend the night at Gao Airport and to take off for the onward flight at 09:00. Later he received a message from the airline which caused him to bring the onward flight forward to 03:00. On his arrival at the weather service at Gao Airport, where he was to prepare a flight plan, the captain said in a conversation with the air traffic controller that he was very tired. He complained that the onward flight to Nice was to be carried out with only short stopovers and that he had to fly an aircraft that was not equipped with an autopilot, so that he also had to take over the navigator's duties in flight. He seemed to dread the night-time departure and asked the air traffic controller to prohibit him from continuing the flight. The air traffic controller could not comply with this request, since the planned flight was entirely routine from a regulatory point of view.

After the aircraft had taxied to the end of the runway, the engines were run for about seven or eight minutes. After receiving take-off clearance, the aircraft lifted off at 03:07 after a take-off run of about 900 metres. In the direction of departure, the airport lies about 10 metres above the surrounding plain. Beyond the runway there is a slope, and beyond that there are no obstacles whatsoever along the extended approach centreline. The plain is flat as far as the horizon and has only slight elevations that never exceed a height of one metre. The aircraft's take-off was normal and the aircraft climbed to a height of 10 metres. Surviving passengers who were sitting in the rear part of the aircraft later reported that the aircraft, after it had been in the air for 15 or 20 seconds, had been hit by a series of jolts that were slight at first and soon became more and more violent. The jolts had given the passengers the impression that the aircraft was sliding over uneven ground.

The wreckage of the aircraft was found two kilometres beyond the end of the runway. The aircraft had first made contact with the ground after 1,500 metres in the area of the extended approach centreline. First the propellers, and immediately afterwards the underside of the fuselage, had touched the ground at a shallow angle and at high speed.