Bucharest – Belgrade – Venice – Lyon – Tours

On October 5, 1929 at 11:35 AM, Bucharest – Belgrade – Venice – Lyon – Tours experienced a crash involving Potez 25, operated by French Air Force - Armée de l'Air, with the event recorded near Sorbier Allier.

The flight was categorized as ferry and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. In the first Potez 25 registered 29 took place François Tulasne and his copilot Favier. In the second Potez 25 registered 47 took place Sergeant Robert Josserand and Sergeant in Chief Georges Vergnaud. With two other Potez 25, they were returning to their base in Tours-Parçay-Meslay after taking part to the funeral of the Romanian Colonel Stefan Protopopescu in Bucharest. All four aircraft made intermediate stops in Belgrade and Venice but both other crews encountered technical problems in Venice and Lyon and both aircraft were grounded. En route from Lyon to Tours, while cruising some two km south of Sorbier, Allier, the crews encountered poor weather conditions with heavy rain falls and low clouds. Due to poor visibility, the crew of the first aircraft decided to return and made a 180 turn when the collision occurred. From a height of 100 metres, both aircraft collided and dove into the ground, killing all four occupants.

Aircraft reference details include registration 47, MSN 47, year of manufacture 1925.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 46.3623°, 3.6574°.