Air Inter Flight 696Y, a Vickers Viscount 724 (registration F-BMCH) operating a scheduled night flight from Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand crashed into the Pic du Picon mountain 44 km east of Clermont-Ferrand airport at 1,000 ft killing 60 of the aircraft's 68 occupants, including all five crew and 55 of the 63 passengers. The accident was caused by the flight deck crew's failure to notice their plane's radio compass had shifted 180 degrees, most likely as a result of electrical discharges in rainfall blocking the signals emitted by Clermont-Ferrand's non-directional beacon (NDB), while being instructed to fly a holding pattern prior to receiving clearance to descend to 3,600 ft. This resulted in the crew's initiating their descent too early, which set the aircraft on a collision course with the mountain. On 20 January 1992, Air Inter Flight 148, operated by an Airbus A320-111 (registration F-GGED), crashed into a ridge near Mount Sainte-Odile in the Vosges mountains while on final approach to Strasbourg at the end of a scheduled flight from Lyon. This resulted in the deaths of 87 of the aircraft's occupants (five crew members, 82 passengers), the worst accident in company history. There were nine survivors (one crew member, eight passengers). The accident was caused by the aircraft's wrongly programmed Flight Control Unit (FCU), a consequence of the crew's failure to notice that the FCU was in [incorrect] vertical speed mode when programming the angle of descent (-3.3 [3.3 degrees]). The excessive descent (3,300 ft./minute instead of 800 ft./minute) took the aircraft below its minimum safe altitude. This resulted in the aircraft's striking trees and a 2,710 ft high ridge in the cloud-covered mountains. The following was a notable, non-fatal incident: On 28 December 1971, Vickers Viscount (registration: F-BOEA) was damaged beyond economic repair at Clermont-Ferrand Aulnat Airport when it departed the runway on a training flight during a simulated failure of number 4 engine. References External links Air France/Air Inter Europe (Archive) FT.com/Business Life, The Monday Interview, 30 September 2007 - Pilot who found the right trajectory M.R. Golder, The Changing Nature of French Dirigisme - A Case Study of Air France, St. Edmunds Hall, Oxford. Thesis submitted at Trinity College, 1997 Air France (Airline, France) Air Inter at the Aviation Safety Network Database Air Inter DC-3 Museum Pictures Air Inter F-27-500 on a visit to Berlin Tegel on April 9, 1978 Air Inter Dassault Mercure 100 at Basle/Mulhouse