Accident description
Last updated: 19 June 2013
| Status: | Final |
| Date: | 29 AUG 1960 |
| Time: | 06:47 UTC |
| Type: | Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation |
| Operator: | Air France |
| Registration: | F-BHBC |
| C/n / msn: | 4622 |
| First flight: | 1955 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 16417 |
| Engines: | 4 Wright 972-TC18-DA-13 |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 55 / Occupants: 55 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 63 / Occupants: 63 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 1,6 km (1 mls) off Dakar-Yoff Airport (DKR) (Senegal)
 |
| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | International Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Paris-Orly Airport (ORY/LFPO), France |
| Dakar-Yoff Airport (DKR/GOOY), Senegal | |
| Flightnumber: | 343 |
Flight AF343 left Paris-Orly (France) with destinations Dakar (Senegal), Monrovia (Liberia) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast). The first intermediate stop was to be Dakar. Arriving near Dakar, the crew first carried out a baulked landing procedure on runway 01. After declining an ILS runway 30 approach the pilot decided to enter a holding pattern and wait for improvement of the weather conditions. Shortly after 06:41 another attempt was made to land at runway 01. After reporting downwind at 06:47 the plane disappeared in a rain squall and crashed into the sea at 2400m from the Mamelles lighthouse. Depth of the sea there was 40m.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The cause of the accident could not be determined" Sources:
» BEA
Sample newspaper article from Newspaperarchive.com
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Paris-Orly Airport to Dakar-Yoff Airport as the crow flies is 4161 km (2601 miles).
Distance from Paris-Orly Airport to Dakar-Yoff Airport as the crow flies is 4161 km (2601 miles).
Senegal