Boeing 747 accident in Paris

The Boeing 747 accident in Paris was an aviation accident that occurred on 5 November 2000. A Boeing 747-2H7B airliner of Cameroon Airlines was operating scheduled intercontinental flight QC070 on the Douala—Paris route, but during landing at the destination the spoilers did not deploy, and as a result the aircraft ran off the runway after landing and crashed into a drainage ditch. All 203 people on board (187 passengers and 16 crew members) survived.

Chronology of events

Flight QC070 took off from Douala at 14:25 WAT, approximately 5 hours later than scheduled. The flight to Paris was uneventful; the airliner flew at cruising level FL350 (10,650 metres). Before landing, the captain invited two female passengers into the cockpit, who sat on the jump seats.

At about 20:50 the crew contacted Paris ATC and began preparing for an ILS approach to runway No. 09L. During the final stage of the approach the aircraft was moving at a speed of 300 km/h, while a crosswind was blowing at a speed of 37 km/h. The flaps were set to 30°, and the landing gear was also extended.

At 20:57 CEST flight QC070 touched down on runway No. 09L at a speed of 280 km/h. The commander activated reverse thrust and the airliner began to slow down, but the spoilers, which normally deploy automatically, did not deploy, and the autobrake system had been disengaged by the crew. After travelling 1700 metres along the runway, the aircraft veered to the right between taxiways Z6 and Z7 and crashed into a drainage ditch; the impact tore off the airliner's nose landing gear and severely damaged the lower part of the aircraft's fuselage, and the lighting in the passenger cabin went out (the emergency lighting then soon came on). The evacuation of the passengers began.

Of the 16 crew members and 187 passengers on board the aircraft, no one was killed or injured; however, at the moment of the accident 3 flight attendants received minor injuries, but they were not counted in the official investigation report.