article_snippet: The fate of the Airbus A320, which appeared to drop out of the sky yesterday over the village of Barcelonette, appears to mirror that of Air France flight 178 which crashed close by in 1953.
article_snippet: The aircraft, a Lockheed L-749A, then, was coming into land at Nice airport, when The aircraft, a Lockheed L-749A, then crashed into the side of Mont Le Cimet, close to Barcelonette.
article_snippet: According to accident investigators at the time, the service was en-route to Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, from Paris with stops in Nice, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan and India.
article_snippet: However, the plane encountered stormy weather over the French Alps with residents in the small village of Fours St. Laurent reporting seeing an Air France crash into the mountainside and burst into flames.
article_snippet: An Air France Lockheed aircraft, which flew the airline's service from Paris to Saigon in the 1950s.
article_snippet: Investigators then put the cause of an Air France crash was down to 'controlled flight into terrain'.
article_snippet: This means that an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, water, or an obstacle, with the pilots generally unaware of the danger until it is too late.
article_snippet: A French Gendarmerie helicopter flies over the snow covered French Alps during a search and rescue operation.
highlights_snippet: In 1953, an Air France flight crashed close to Barcelonette killing 44 people .
  
highlights_snippet: The service was coming into land in Nice when The service encountered a storm .
  
highlights_snippet: The aircraft, a Lockheed L-749A, then crashed into Mont Le Cimet in flames .
  