On 26 June 1988, Carrying out a flyby at an airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport (LFGB) as a part of a Sight seeing flight, Air France Flight 296 (Airbus A320-100) failed to climb and crashed into the woods , that killed 3 out of the 136 passengers on board.
The aircraft crashed while making a low pass over Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport as part of the Habsheim Air Show. Most of the crash sequence, which occurred in front of several thousand spectators, was caught on video as well. However , the cause of the crash has been the source of major controversy.
This was A320's first passenger flight and most of the occupants were journalists and raffle winners. The low-speed flyover, with landing gear down, was supposed to take place at an altitude of 100 feet; instead, the plane performed the flyover at 30 ft, skimmed the treetops of the forest at the end of the runway (that missed on the airport map given to the pilots) and crashed.
At the time of the accident, only three of the new aircraft type had been delivered to Air France, and the newest one (in service for two days) had been chosen for the flyover.
The aircraft was to fly from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Basel - Mulhouse Airport for a press conference. Then, sightseeing charter passengers would board and the aircraft would fly the short distance to the small Habsheim Airport.
The captain was supposed to make a low-level fly-pass over Runway 02, climb up and turn back, and repeat the fly-pass over the same runway in the reciprocal direction (Runway 20).
This would be followed by a sightseeing trip south to Mont Blanc before the passengers would be returned to Basel–Mulhouse Airport. Finally, the aircraft would return to Paris.
Official reports concluded that the pilots flew too low, too slow, failed to see the forest and accidentally flew into it. However, the captain, Michel Asseline, disputed the report and claimed an error in the fly-by-wire system computer prevented him from applying thrust and pulling up.
In the aftermath of the crash, there were allegations that investigators had tampered with evidence, specifically the aircraft's Flight recorders ("black boxes").
Evacuation was not easy ! During the impact, the right wing was torn off, and the spilling fuel ignited immediately.
Inside the aircraft, many of the passengers were dazed from hitting their heads on the backs of the seats in front of them. Some passengers had difficulty unfastening their seatbelts because they were unfamiliar with the mechanism as it differed from the type used in car seatbelts.
The flight attendant then began evacuating the passengers but they soon began to pile up at the bottom of the slide as their route was blocked by trees and branches.
By this time, the fire had entered the right side of the fuselage through the damaged floor section , despite much chaos and struggle , three could not escape and died from smoke inhalation before they could escape.
One was a disabled boy, who was unable to move. Another was a girl ,who was unable to remove her seatbelt. The third was a woman who had reached the front door and then returned to help the girl.
Thirty-four passengers required hospitalisation for injuries and burns. Both pilots received minor head injuries and also suffered from smoke inhalation.
