Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308

Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 was a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 aircraft on a Yugoslavian charter flight to the French island of Corsica.  On 1 December 1981 the flight crashed on Corsica's Mont San-Pietro, killing all 180 people on board.  The crash was the deadliest and first major aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, as well as the second-deadliest air disaster in France behind Turkish Airlines Flight 981.

 Accident 
Flight 1308 took off from Brnik Airport on a chartered flight from Slovenia (then Yugoslavia) to Corsica's capital city of AjaccioFinal report, section 1 "Synopsis", p.3 with 173 Slovenian tourists and 7 crew members. At some point, the co-pilot let his young son enter the cockpit.Final report, section 5.1, p.18 "

While in its holding pattern, the flight was instructed to descend through the minimum holding altitude of 6,800 feet. As it descended, its Ground Proximity Warning System gave off several audio warnings, which the crew did not react to for approximately ten seconds. Three seconds before impact, the crew increased engine power and attempted to climb, but were unable to climb enough. One of the aircraft's wings hit the summit of Mont San-Pietro and broke off. The aircraft then went into an uncontrolled dive and violently crashed on the other side of the mountain eight seconds later, killing everyone on board. The time of the accident was 8:53 a.m. local time (07:53 UTC).

 Investigation 
The investigation into the disaster revealed that control mistakenly believed that Flight 1308 was out of its holding pattern, believing it was already located over the sea, while actually it was  inland, over the mountainous terrain of Corsica. The crew, apparently surprised at the instruction to descend, repeated several times that they were still in the holding pattern, which the control acknowledged. The crew was unfamiliar with the airport and the area, as this was the first flight of Inex-Adria Aviopromet to Corsica. The imprecise language used by the crew of the MD-81 and the air traffic controller played a significant role in the accident. Air traffic control in Ajaccio was cleared of all charges. The air traffic controller in charge of Flight 1308 was transferred to another airport in France.

At the time of the accident, the Ajaccio airport had no radar system. As a direct result of the accident, the equipment was upgraded and the approach pattern changed.


 2008 clean-up operation 
Some debris and human bodies were removed from the crash site after the accident in 1981. In 2007, POP TV (a TV station in Slovenia) did a news report on the accident. They visited the crash site in Corsica and found many of the airplane's parts still scattered on Mont San-Pietro, in rugged and inaccessible terrain. Then the Government of Slovenia, Adria Airways and Kompas (the Slovenian travel agency that organized the fatal trip in 1981) organized and paid for a clean-up operation. A Slovenian team of about 60 soldiers, mountain rescuers, civil protection and rescue service members, medical personnel, and other volunteers removed about 27 tons of aircraft remains in May 2008. The removed debris included one aircraft engine and large wing parts. Some of the parts were so large they needed to be machine cut before transporting them from the mountain by a helicopter. Several human remains were also found, and were either sent for further identification tests, or were properly disposed. A commemorative plaque was put at the site of the initial wing impact.

 References 

 Other websites 

 Final report ()
AirDisaster.Com – Crash photo of Flight 1308
Aviation Safety Network – Picture of the MD-81 that would become Flight 1308 
24ur.Com – Videos of the crash of Flight 1308

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the 1980s
Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Europe
Category:1981 in Europe
Category:1980s in France
Category:20th century in Slovenia