Air France Flight 152
Beirut International Airport (BEY/OLBA) | |
Destination | Tehran-Mehrabad Airport (THR/OIII) |
---|---|
Passengers | 34 |
Crew | 8 |
Fatalities | 4 |
Survivors | 38 |
Air France Flight 152 (AF152) was a scheduled international passenger flight[1] which made an emergency water landing in the Mediterranean Sea, off Fethiye, South-Western Turkey on 3 August 1953.[2] The aircraft sank over an hour after ditching. Four passengers died, out of 8 crew and 34 passengers.[2][1]
The flight originated from
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft,
The flight was piloted by
Flight and accident
The scheduled flight AF152 departed from
At 02:10 hours on 3 August, while cruising at an
During the descent the flight attendants informed the passengers about the situation, calmed them down and instructed them to put on life jackets. At 02:28, the aircraft ditched into the calm sea flawlessly, about 2 km (1.2 mi) off Kızılada in the Gulf of Fethiye approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) from Fethiye.[3][4][6] The passengers and the crew promptly evacuated the airplane using the four emergency exits, and initially remained on the wings of the floating aircraft for over an hour before it finally sank.[5]
Rescue
Lighthouse keeper Ahmet Pehlivan noticed the airliner's ditching, however, neither he nor his supervisor could sight it in the pitch-dark night. Only sometime later, with the beginning of twilight, could they see the aircraft and the victims on the sea surface. They rushed to the accident site by boat, rescuing some passengers, including flight attendant Rospars, who held a five-month old infant girl named Roxane on her lap, and the baby's mother, to the island shore. Meanwhile, crew members and some passengers tried to swim the distance to the island in order to call for relief. Alerted by the lighthouse keeper, customs officers and fishermen sailed towards the scene, picking survivors on the water.[5][6]
Four elderly passengers of the 42 people on board of the airliner died by drowning.[4][5] The survivors received clothing, warm food, drink and shelter from residents during their stay in Fethiye.[6]
Aftermath
At 04:30 the same day, Beirut alerted Air France by telegram of Flight 152's failure to arrive, and asked for a search and rescue operation. At 10:30 the stopover office of Air France in Athens asked Orly Airport for news about F-BAZS. At 17:30 hours, a telegram from the airliner's captain, sent from Fethiye, arrived at Air France stating that 38 people survived the accident.[4]
After being informed of the accident, seven officials of the French aviation accident investigation agency
The crew, the passengers and the investigators were transported to Rhodes, from where they were flown to Paris four days after the accident.[7]
As a consequence of the accident, it was made obligatory to carry
In media
In 2013, 60 years after the accident, an underwater search operation was undertaken in the Gulf of Fethiye, which led to finding of an aircraft engine, but not the airliner itself. A documentary film about this search was aired by İZ TV.[8]
The wreckage of the aircraft was discovered by the Turkish Navy in 2018.[3]
References
- ^ a b c "Crash of a Lockheed L-749 Constellation in Turkey: 4 killed". BAAA/ACRO. Archived from the original on 2016-02-21. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
- ^ a b c d "1953". Plane Crash Information. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ a b c d e f "Aircraft accident Lockheed L-749A Constellation F-BAZS". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Rapport d'Enquête sur l'accident survenu à Fethiye (Turquie) le 3 aoǜt 1953, à l'avion Lockheed 749 A – F.BAZS, de la Compagnie Air France" (PDF). Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French): 149–154. 16 March 1954. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "F-BAZS – Constellation Air France" (in French). Avio Techno. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ a b c d Selener, Necdet (1953-08-31). "Fethiye açıklarında denize inen Fransız yolcu uçağı". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ a b "Fethiye deki uçak kazası". Milliyet (in Turkish). 1953-08-08. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ "Sudaki İzler "Uçuş No: 152"". İZ TV (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
External links
- Le F-BAZS assurait la ligne régulière d'Air France n° 152 Orly-Téhéran avec escales à Rome et ... - BEA (France) (in French) (PDF)