Qualla: Air France Flight 117

Air France Flight 117: Introduction

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The hill is called Dos d'Âne — the Donkey's Back — and it rises about 430 meters above the forests of western Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe. On June 22, 1962, a Boeing 707-328 carrying 113 people struck it at roughly 1,400 feet and exploded. Air France Flight 117, bound from Paris to Santiago, Chile, with stops in Lisbon, the Azores, Guadeloupe, and Peru, had been in service for only four months. The aircraft was new. The airport it was approaching was not.

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Air France Flight 117: A Storm, a Broken Beacon, and a Wrong Turn

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Everything about the approach to Pointe-à-Pitre was wrong that evening. The airport sits in terrain surrounded by mountains, requiring a steep descent under the best conditions. On June 22, conditions were far from the best — a violent thunderstorm had settled over the area, drop...

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Air France Flight 117: The People on Board

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Among the 113 who died were people whose absence would reshape political and literary circles across the French-speaking world. Justin Catayée was a French Guianan politician and decorated war hero who had served France with distinction before turning to advocate for his homeland...

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Air France Flight 117: A Warning Ignored

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After the crash, a damning picture emerged about the crew's qualifications. Tex Johnston, Boeing's chief test pilot, wrote in his autobiography that Air France flight crews were "habitually late" for crew training and that aircraft were sometimes not properly serviced. Johnston d...

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Air France Flight 117: What Remains on the Donkey's Back

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Debris from the crash still lies scattered in the forest on Dos d'Âne. In 2002, on the fortieth anniversary, a memorial stele was erected at the site bearing the names of all 113 victims. The commune and the regional government placed the official monument alongside earlier comme...

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