Geneva – Nice

On March 20, 1963 at 03:23 AM, Geneva – Nice experienced a crash involving De Havilland DH.106 Comet, operated by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the event recorded near Mt Matto Piedmont.

The flight was categorized as government and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

18 people were known to be on board, 18 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 10, passenger fatalities: 10, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The four engine aircraft was completing a flight from Geneva to Nice, carrying eight crew members and ten members of the Saudi Royal Family. While cruising by night above the Alps and along the border between France and Italy, the crew was in communication with ATC based in Aix-en-Provence and was instructed to descent to 10,000 feet when the airplane struck the slope of Mt Matto located 28 km southwest of Cuneo. The wreckage was found a day later and all 18 occupants have been killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration SA-R-7, MSN 6461, year of manufacture 1962.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 44.3336°, 7.4746°.