Pau - Pau

On July 30, 1971 at 02:54 PM, Pau - Pau experienced a crash involving Nord 2501 Noratlas, operated by French Air Force - Armée de l'Air, with the event recorded near Pau Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

The flight was categorized as skydiving / paratroopers and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

34 people were known to be on board, 32 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 94.1%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 9, passengers on board: 25, passenger fatalities: 23, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The aircraft departed Pau-Uzein Airport on a local training flight with nine crew members and 25 paratroopers, on behalf of the Escadron de Transport 2/63 Bigorre. Few minutes after takeoff, the captain informed ground about an engine fire and was cleared to return for an emergency landing. On final approach, the airplane nosed down then crashed in a huge explosion few km short of runway. Two passengers were injured while 32 other occupants were killed. Crew: Cpt Mallet, Cpt Remy, Adj Abdi, Adj Sion, Mdlc Carlu, Mdlc Gruselle, Sgt Piccerelle, Sgt Tondeur, Mdl Perron. Passengers: S/Lt Berthe, S/Lt Boju, S/Lt Cartal, S/Lt Coullerez, S/Lt Delarche, S/Lt Del Toso, S/Lt Dhome, S/Lt Ducatillon, S/Lt Erba, S/Lt Flori, S/Lt Guillamet, S/Lt Kerleguer, S/Lt Labriet, S/Lt Lanterme, S/Lt Lafitte, S/Lt Megevand, S/Lt Peters, S/Lt Pina, S/Lt Py, S/Lt Rousseau, S/Lt Sensfelder, S/Lt Tachet, S/Lt Zangarelli.

Aircraft reference details include registration 49/F-RABB, MSN 49, year of manufacture 1954.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 43.2866°, -0.0927°.