Marseille - Perpignan

On April 22, 1985 at 12:00 AM, Marseille - Perpignan experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-6, operated by Sécurité civile française, with the event recorded near Fitou Aude.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a mountains crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 2, passenger fatalities: 2, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The four engine aircraft departed Marseille-Marignane on a special flight to Perpignan-Rivesaltes Airport, carrying two passengers and a crew of three under callsign Pélican 63. While descending to Perpignan Airport, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with fog and rain showers. In limited visibility, the crew failed to realize his altitude was too low when the aircraft struck the slope of a mountain located near Fitou, about 20 km north of Perpignan Airport. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and all five occupants were killed. The passengers were one engineer and one Colonel from the French Army while the captain, aged 64, was the deputy of the Chief of Operations of the Marseille-Marignane Airbase. They were flying to Perpignan-Rivesaltes Airport to proceed to a technical visit of the supply center.

Aircraft reference details include registration F-ZBAE, MSN 43834, year of manufacture 1953.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 42.8941°, 2.9817°.