Mont-de-Marsan - Hyères

On November 25, 1977 at 02:30 AM, Mont-de-Marsan - Hyères experienced a crash involving Nord 2501 Noratlas, operated by French Air Force - Armée de l'Air, with the event recorded near Prémian Hérault.

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

32 people were known to be on board, 32 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 28, passenger fatalities: 28, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. At 1000LT on November 24, the airplane departed Hyères-Le Palyvestre NAS near Toulon on a flight to Mont-de-Marsan Airbase, carrying 28 passengers and a crew of four. The passengers were respectively 23 Marines from the Naval School of Saint-Mandrier, four officers and the Director of the Naval School's house. All four crew members were attached to the Groupe 3/64 Bigorre at Évreux AFB. All of them were invited at Mont-de-Marsan Airbase to assist to the final of a radiophonic tournament they lost on semi-final. At 0100LT on November 25, the airplane departed Mont-de-Marsan Airfield bound to the east. En route, the crew encountered very bad weather conditions with fog and rain falls, reducing the visibility to zero. In such conditions, the crew failed to realize his altitude was too low when the airplane passed over the hamlet of La Sicarderie at a height of 150 meters. Less than 30 seconds later, the airplane struck trees and crashed in flames in a wooded area located in the Somail Mountain Range, about 40 km northwest of Béziers. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 32 occupants were killed. Crew (Groupe 3/64 Bigorre from Évreux AFB): Cpt Philippe Le Goff, Sgt/C Robert Sonier, Sgt/C Jean-Claude Bezanger, Sgt/C Serge Luckel. Passengers (accompanist officers): Cpt Raymond Faucher, Mrs Elisabeth Boissat, Director of the GEM House, Ens/V Francis Coinsin, Asp Louis Rimbaud, M/Pr Luc Kuntz. Passengers (Marines members of the Bagad du Groupe d’Écoles de Mécaniciens (GEM) de Saint-Mandrier): M/Mec Pierre Nadal, 2nd M/Mec Joël Quentel, 2nd M/Mec Alain Bouydron, QM/Mec Philippe Janin, QM/Mec Philippe Orliac, QM/Mec Louis Tanguy, QM/Mec Alain Ducasse, M/Mec Patrick Mira, M/Mec François Chotard, M/Mec Didier Le Goff, M/Mec Jean-Marie Rambaud, M/Mec Christian Dreau, M/Mec Claude Lecoustaouec, M/Mec Joël Jaffres, M/Mec Guy Le Doussal, M/Eq Jean-Marc Mule, Mat Ben Ah-Mi, App/Mec Alain Montas, App/Mec Pascal Le Gall, App/Mec Dominique Le Goff, APP/Mec Eric Descarcin, App/Mec Didier Terrec, App/Mec Alain Scouarnec.

Aircraft reference details include registration 182/F-RABR, MSN 182, year of manufacture 1960.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 43.5239°, 2.8312°.