Investigation Summary
The flight was a chartered promotional event carrying journalists and raffle winners. The flight plan called for a low-speed pass at 100 feet with landing gear down and flaps at stage 3. However, the crew was unfamiliar with the airfield, which was not in the aircraft's flight computer. During the approach, the pilots realized the spectators were gathered near a grass strip (34R) rather than the paved runway they expected, leading to a last-minute alignment change. The aircraft descended to approximately 30 feet, significantly lower than the planned 100 feet and the regulatory minimum of 170 feet. As the aircraft approached a forest at the end of the runway, the crew applied full go-around power, but the engines, which were at flight idle, required several seconds to spool up. The aircraft's alpha protection mode maintained a high angle of attack to prevent a stall, but the low altitude and slow engine response resulted in the aircraft skimming the treetops and eventually crashing into the woods.
Final Conclusions
The BEA concluded the accident resulted from a combination of factors: a very low flyover height below surrounding obstacles, extremely slow speed to reach maximum angle of attack, engines at flight idle, and the late application of go-around power. The commission noted that if the descent below 100 feet was not deliberate, it resulted from the crew's failure to account for visual and aural height information. Captain Michel Asseline and four others were later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Photographic Evidence (1)
Video Analysis
Did The Pilot Cause Air France Flight 296 Crash? | Mayday — An investigation into the crash of Air France Flight 296 during an airshow flyby, examining the role of pilot overconfidence and the A320's fly-by-wire system.
If playback is blocked, the owner has disabled embedding — use the link above.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Pilot Flying; Head of A320 training subdivision.
First Officer
Pilot Monitoring; Training captain.
Systems & Failure Modes
Alpha Protection
A fly-by-wire flight envelope protection that prevents the aircraft from stalling by limiting the angle of attack, regardless of pilot sidestick input.
Alpha Floor
An autothrust function that automatically applies maximum thrust when a high angle of attack is sensed; this was intentionally disabled by the crew for the demonstration.
CFM56-5A1 Engines
The high-bypass turbofan engines ingested significant amounts of foliage during the impact with the trees, leading to a total loss of thrust.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was the third A320 delivered to Air France and had only 22 total airframe hours.
- 02The flight was the first fatal accident involving the Airbus A320 family.
- 03The forest at the end of the runway was not depicted on the airport map provided to the pilots.
- 04The engines were at flight idle during the pass, requiring approximately 8 seconds to reach full power.
- 05Three fatalities occurred due to smoke inhalation, including a quadriplegic boy and a 7-year-old girl.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Fly-by-wire Training
Air France and Airbus revised training protocols to emphasize the behavior of flight envelope protections and engine spool-up times at low altitudes.
Airshow Regulations
Stricter minimum altitude requirements for passenger-carrying demonstration flights were enforced by French civil aviation authorities.
Known Controversies & Unanswered Questions
Flight Recorder Tampering Allegations
Reference ↗Captain Asseline and some observers alleged that the flight data recorders were switched or tampered with by authorities to protect the reputation of the Airbus A320, citing discrepancies in the timing of the recordings.