1973 Nantes mid-air collision

Iberia Flight 504
Spantax Flight 400

Accident
Date	5 March 1973
Summary	Mid-air collision caused by ATC error
Site	Nantes, France 47°00′58″N 1°26′03″W / 47.0161°N 1.4343°W / 47.0161; -1.4343
Total fatalities	68
Total survivors	107
First aircraft
EC-BII, the Iberia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 involved in the accident, pictured in 1972
Type	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
Operator	Iberia
IATA flight No.	IB504
ICAO flight No.	IBE504
Call sign	IBERIA 504
Registration	EC-BII
Flight origin	Palma de Mallorca Airport
Destination	London Heathow
Occupants	68
Passengers	61
Crew	7
Fatalities	68
Survivors	0
Second aircraft
EC-BJC, the Spantax Convair 990 involved in the accident, pictured in 1969
Type	Convair 990 Coronado[1]
Operator	Spantax
IATA flight No.	BX400
ICAO flight No.	BXS400
Call sign	SPANTAX 400
Registration	EC-BJC
Flight origin	Madrid-Barajas Airport
Destination	London Gatwick
Occupants	107
Passengers	99
Crew	8
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	107

The 1973 Nantes mid-air collision occurred when two Spanish airliners travelling to London hit each other over Nantes, France, on 5 March 1973. They were an Iberia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 flying from Palma de Mallorca and a Spantax Convair 990 from Madrid. All 68 people on board the DC-9 were killed. The CV-990 was able to make a successful emergency landing at Cognac – Châteaubernard Air Base.^[1]

The first aircraft involved in the collision was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, registered as EC-BII. It was built by McDonnell Douglas in 1967 and it had logged 10852 hours and 45 minutes of flight time and 9452 takeoff and landing cycles. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7 engines.^[2][3]: 18

The second aircraft involved was a Convair 990-30A-5 Coronado, registered as EC-BJC. It was built by Convair in 1962 and it had logged 24775 airframe hours. It had landed 1108 times since its last general overhaul. It was powered by four General Electric CJ805-23 engines.^[4][3]: 19

Flight 504's captain was Cueto Capella, aged 37, who had logged 6612 hours of flight time, 823 of which were on the DC-9. His co-pilot was Lafita Rueda, aged 35, who had logged 3778 hours of flight time, including 2278 hours on the DC-9. The pilot under training was Alcubierre Camacho, aged 29, who had logged 950 hours of flight time, all of which were on the DC-9.^{[3]: 10–13}

Flight 400's captain was Arenas Rodriguez, aged 39, who had logged 8555 hours and 24 minutes of flight time, including 4861 hours and 5 minutes on the CV-990. His co-pilot was Saavedra Martinez, aged 39, who had logged 9501 hours and 47 minutes of flight time, 1790 hours and 16 minutes of which were on the CV-990. The flight engineer was Gonzales Zaraus, aged 37, who had logged 5093 hours and 31 minutes of flight time.^{[3]: 14–16}

Iberia Flight 504, a scheduled service from Palma de Mallorca, and Spantax flight 400, a charter flight from Madrid, were both traversing France en route to London. They were guided by French military Air Traffic Control as the country's civilian air traffic controllers were on strike.^[5] The Iberia DC-9 was due to reach the Nantes VOR point at 12:52 at flight level 290 (29,000 feet [8,839 m]) and the Spantax Convair CV-990 was scheduled to reach it at 13:00 at the same level. Both aircraft had received instructions from Marina sector Air Traffic Control at the French Air Force base in Mont-de-Marsan, who asked them to contact Menhir sector ATC at the French Air Force base in Brest. The Spantax aircraft was on the boundary between the sectors and had difficulty hearing Marina ATC, also receiving no reply to two requests to circle to avoid arriving at the Nantes VOR before 13:00 GMT. The crew decided to start the manoeuvre without ATC authorisation and while in cloud collided with the Iberia DC-9 at 12:52 GMT.

The Iberia DC-9 lost control, exploded, and broke up in mid-air before crashing to the ground. All 61 passengers and seven crew were killed. Forty-seven of the dead were British citizens, including Michael Jeffery, the former manager of The Animals and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.^[5][6]

The Spantax CV-990 managed to land at Cognac – Châteaubernard Air Base with damage to its left wing.^[7] A survivor, Betty Barrett, later recounted:

My father was sitting in the aisle seat, and I was on the right hand side. And I turned around, and he's very British and very stoic, and I said, "Daddy do you think we are going to make it?". He said, "I rather doubt it darling," and pointed to the other wing.^[8]

No-one aboard the Spantax flight was injured, and after repairs the aircraft continued to fly for Spantax until 1979.^[9]

The accident was investigated by French air accident body, the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety. Its report identified difficulties in communication between the flight crew of the Convair CV-990 and air traffic control as well as procedural errors from both parties. The crew's unilateral decision to turn the aircraft brought it into the path of the DC-9. ATC had assumed a time-based separation of the two aircraft at the same flight level.

The event is briefly mentioned in the MSNBC/The Weather Channel documentary series Why Planes Crash, during the first season episode "Collision Course". The episode features an interview with survivor Betty Barrett who shows images of the CV-990's damaged wing after landing.^[8]

• List of civilian mid-air collisions
• 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision
• 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision
• 2006 Matto Grosso mid-air collision

• Final accident report, Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (in French)
  • PDF version (Archive)
  • HTML version
• English translation hosted by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch
  • Report PDF (Archive)
  • Appendices (Archive)