Air France Flight 072

Air France Flight 072 was a regular flight between Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport and Papeete's Faa International Airport via Los Angeles International Airport on September 12, 1993. The aircraft overshot the Runway and ended up in a shallow inlet.

Air France Flight 072
F-GITA, The Boeing 747-428 involved landing in May 2009 at Montreal-Pierre International Airport.
Accident
Date September 12, 1993
Summary Runway overrun
Site Fa'a'ā International Airport, Papeete, French Polynesia
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 747-400
Operator Air France
Registration F-GITA
Flight origin Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France
Stopover Los Angeles International Airport, California, United States of America
Destination Fa'a'ā International Airport, Papeete, French Polynesia
Passengers 256
Crew 16
Fatalities 0
Survivors 272 (All)

Aircraft

The aircraft operating the route was the Boeing 747-428 F-GITA, which was the first one delivered to Air France in February 1991.[1] It was powered by 4 General Electric CF-6-80 Engines.

Accident

After flying from Los Angeles, Air France Flight 072 prepared to land on Runway 22 at Papeete International Airport. The aircraft landed with a speed of 168 Knots at 21:05. Due to the Number 1 Engine being in go-around mode due to approach, it throttled to max power.[2] The pilots tried to slow down by using the remaining engines's thrust reversers but started to roll off the runway. Due to this, the Number 4 engine was shutdown. The aircraft soon fell nose first into the reef with its tail sticking out on to the taxiway.[3] Although nobody was killed and the aircraft was put back into service, the aircraft was damaged and disrupted boat traffic near the runway.

Aftermath

F-GITA in 2010.
F-GITA awaiting her fate in 2010.

Air France still uses the same flight number as of September 2018 for this route.

Air France has already retired the 747-400 and this one was scrapped in April 2011 at Cotswold Airport.

References

  1. ↑ "F-GITA Air France Boeing 747-400". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  2. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-428 F-GITA Papeete-Faaa Airport (PPT), Tahiti". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  3. ↑ "Fa'a'ā International Airport", Wikipedia, 2018-09-11, retrieved 2018-09-13
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