Armée de l'air Nord 2501 Noratlas crash
Nord Noratlas · Controlled flight into terrain caused by very bad weather conditions and pilot error
From Air Base 188 Djibouti, Djibouti, Djibouti to Air Base 188 Djibouti, Djibouti, Djibouti
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
- 36 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 36
- 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
- Military
Nord Noratlas
- Aircraft type
- Nord NORATLAS
- 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
- 140
- Operator
- Armée de l'air
- Onboard fatalities
- 36
- Route
- From Air Base 188 Djibouti, Djibouti, DjiboutiTo Air Base 188 Djibouti, Djibouti, Djibouti
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 3 February 1982, a Nord 2501 Noratlas of the Armée de l'air was flying for an exercise in the skies of Djibouti. On board were 36 men, of whom 29 were legionnaires, 27 of these from the 2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes, quartered at Camp Raffalli in Calvi, Corsica, who were in Djibouti for an exercise of four to six months. The aircraft crashed on Mount Garbi ( m) not far from the border with Ethiopia and exploded, leaving no survivors.
The crew members were commandants Dalmasso and Couillaud and captains Taddéï and Demange.
On 12 February the funeral was held in the Corsican town in the presence of the highest French civil and military authorities; the causes of the disaster according to the official inquiry were bad weather and the incorrect barometric setting of the aircraft's altimeter.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Italian Wikipedia article “Incidente del Nord 2501 Noratlas dell'Armée de l'air” (revision 147713786, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Italian Wikipedia article: Incidente del Nord 2501 Noratlas dell'Armée de l'air
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 147713786 · 2025-11-11 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q25399834
- 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
- it Wikipedia article "Incidente del Nord 2501 Noratlas dell'Armée de l'air" (page 5814141, revision 147713786), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia article: the date in its opening sentence (the infobox gives none to the day)
- 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
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Italian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.