Russell McMahon wrote:
>
> AFAIR a classic example of what you described below happened with a
> brand new Airbus prior to their mass availability.
>
> The problem was essentially pilot error.
> The problem was not with the aircraft stopping him doing what he
> should have been able to do but with him thinking that he was going
> to be able to something that he knew he shouldn't do.
> AFAIR it was at the Orly air show - I have seen a video of the event
> and it is extremely fun but only because nobody was killed and a
> major lesson was learnt - it could have been quite different..
> The aircraft made a low slow pass and then at the end the pilot tried
> to pull it up in a sharp climb. This violated design specs - or would
> have if the aircraft had let him do it. Instead the aircraft
> continued flying low and slow and on a slightly descending path. At
> the end of this path there was a (pine?) forest. The craft sank
> slowly into the tops of the tress and proceeded then to tear out
> trees and tear its wings off.
> I understand that what passengers there were present wre VIPs taking
> the show demo flight - I may be wrong on this.


I suspect you are referring to Air France 296, 6/26/88.  There is a
picture and CVR transcript at www.airdisaster.com.  (There's a web page
for everything now.)

"Crashed while performing a low approach at Habsheim Airport in Southern
France.  On a demonstration flight for Airbus, complete with a load of
136 passengers and crew, the Captain elected to add power too late and
impacted trees at the end of the runway.  The subsequent explosion and
fire killed 3 people."

I could be wrong tho, I seem to recall another airbus incident like
this, but couldn't find it.

GC