Air Inter Flight 148
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 20, 1992 |
| Type | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Strasbourg France |
| Passengers | 90 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Injuries | 9 |
| Fatalities | 87 |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A-320-111 |
| Operator | Air Inter |
Air Inter Flight 148 was a scheduled airline flight on January 20, 1992 that crashed in the Vosges Mountains while circling to land at Strasbourg Airport. 87 of the 96 onboard were killed.
Flight 148 departed Satolas Airport (now known as Saint-Exupéry International Airport) in Lyon, France at 5:20pm. While being vectored for a VOR DME Approach to Runway 05 at Strasbourg it crashed in the Mountains at a height of only 2600 feet. The pilots had no warning of the imminent impact as the aircraft was not fitted with GPWS.
Flight 148 was the third of a series of crashes caused by what was believed to be pilots unfamiliarity with the Airbus A320 sophisticated computer system. (See Air France Flight 296 and Indian Airlines Flight 605.) It is believed the cause of the crash is that the pilots inadvertently left the autopilot in Vertical Speed mode (instead of Flight Path Angle mode) and then entered "33" – for 3.3° descent angle (which was actually interpreted as a rate of descent of 3,300 feet per minute).
