On March 3, 1974, the national forest of Ermenonville in Oise was suddenly deafening. City sirens and screaming and crackling sounds break the peace that day. That day the forest was cut into a gap of 800 meters. Turkish Airlines DC-10 981 cut down branches and trees when it grounded near the place called “La Cabane de Chaalis”.
The plane must connect Istanbul to London’s Heathrow airport, making a stopover at Orly. 216 new passengers boarded it. Among them, many rugby supporters came to support the English team which played the day before against its French opponent.
But four minutes after takeoff, the DC-10 which was flying towards Meaux disappeared from radar. The flight had barely begun, it was near Saint-Pathus (Seine-et-Marne), just a few kilometers from Orly, that the drama began. The rear left door of the DC-10 cargo hold opens. Poorly locked, it lets air in.
At 12:35 p.m., the control surfaces were removed. The plane becomes unpilotable. While overlooking the Ermenonville forest, located between Senlis and Mortefontaine, the DC-10 disintegrated and the shock wave broke the windows of certain houses in Mortefontaine.
“It will be impossible to identify all the victims. We have never seen anything so horrible. »
As it runs aground, the shreds of the DC-10 cut into the forest. Fir trunks 40 centimeters in diameter are crushed. Scattered among the crushed thickets, all that remains is a piece of the landing gear, a few seats, and pieces of sheet metal deformed by the impact. From some trees hang shredded clothes.
Two stretcher bearers who were the first to arrive on the scene confided to Humanity on site that “ there is nothing left to save “. Under the sometimes shocked, sometimes interested eyes of the numerous curious people gathered by the black cloud of ash hovering above the trees, the emergency services went back and forth to free the bodies. Or what’s left of it. Under the orders of the investigating judge, a team of specialist doctors proceed to identify the victims.
The DC-10 crash killed all 346 passengers and crew on board. Not a survivor. Ermenonville sadly becomes the scene of the deadliest civil air disaster ever seen in France.
Legal headache facing McDonnell Douglas
The 981 is one of three Turkish Airlines DC-10s. Built in the United States, it is marketed by the McDonnell Douglas firm. Less than 2 years before the Ermenonville crash, in June 1972, an American Airlines DC-10 flying from Detroit to New York, with 67 passengers, had already lost its hold door a few minutes after takeoff. Only one person came out slightly injured. Since then, several alerts had been issued by executives from McDonnell Douglas or Convair-General Dynamics on the problem of closing the doors but also on the poor resistance of the floor.
But in 1974, the judicial investigation responsible for investigating the causes of the DC-10 crash began on other avenues. Investigators are first focusing on a possible attack which would have been instigated by Armenian extremists. But they fail to demonstrate their hypothesis. Finally, after the arrival of American and Turkish legal experts, and lengthy analyzes of the remains of the plane, the official commission responsible for the investigation confirmed a defect in the plane’s hold door. As with aircraft of the same model, the door lock on DC-10 981 malfunctioned. Added to this is the faulty light warning signal which should have warned the pilot of its incorrect closure.
For its part, McDonnell Douglas prefers to place the responsibility on the baggage handler responsible for closing the rear door. The American aircraft manufacturer was still ordered to pay $80 million in compensation to the victims’ families following the trial.
In the Ermenonville forest, the trees have now regained their rightful place. Of the 1974 disaster, all that remains between the ferns and the fir trees is a stele in memory of the 346 victims.
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2024-03-04 21:35:37
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