1956 Cairo TAI Douglas DC-6 crash

A Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux Douglas DC-6B with tail number “F-BGOD” departed from Saigon with a delay of around 20 hours. The airplane departed from Karachi to Cairo on 19 February 1956 at 17:15 UTC. A bit later, just before 3am at around 25 km North-East of the airport, the aircraft crashed in the desert on a hill, broke up and caught fire. ==Victims==

A total of 55 passengers and 9 crew members were listed to be on board. After the crash it was reported that 3 people had missed the flight. That would make a total of 52 passengers. All passengers were French people from Indochina. A total of 52 people died in the crash: 3 crew members and 49 passengers, including 11 children and 3 babies. Of the 27 males who died, 22 were military. Six crew members and six passengers were able to exit the airplane via the emergency exit at the front side of the airplane. The six crew members who survived the crash consisted of: the experienced pilot in charge Charles Billot, who was injured, the inexperienced co-pilot who was still taking his flight exam Robert Rolland, two mechanics and two radio operators. A man named Fortuna survived the crash together with his two young sons; but he lost his wife and one or two daughters. == Rescue operation ==

A major in a jeep of the Egyptian army witnessed the crash. The plane had landed in an inaccessible part of the desert two kilometers from the nearest road. It took four hours to reach the crash site by land. In addition to the fact that there were several ravines and that it was a hilly path to reach the crash site, the rescue vehicles were affected by a severe sandstorm. Two Piper J-3 Cub airplanes of the national petroleum society were used to transport doctors, nurses and medication to the crash site and to transport injured people to Cairo. ==Cause of the crash==

Soon after the accident Billot stated that the co-pilot, a trainee, would land the aircraft. At the moment that Billot saw that they were flying too low, he could not do anything anymore. Crew members stated shortly after the crash, that shortly before landing two engines failed and the pilot tried to make an emergency landing in the desert. Pilot Billot was blamed for failing to monitor the co-pilot Rolland during the approach procedure and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Co-pilot Rolland was blamed for relying exclusively on his instruments to fix his position at an altitude below the minimum safe altitude. Immediately after this disaster, conducting flying exams became prohibited on flights with passengers. ==References==