Country
France

Crash of a Levasseur PL.8 in Istres

Date & Time: Dec 20, 1929
Type of aircraft:
Levasseur PL.8
Operator:
Registration:
F-AJKP
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Postal (mail)
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Airport (less than 10 km from airport)
Schedule:
Dakar - Istres
MSN:
PL.8-02
YOM:
1928
Location:
Istres-Le Tubé
Bouches-du-Rhône
Country:
France
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
The pilot Henri Delaunay was completing a mail flight from Dakar to Istres-Le Tubé Airport. Upon landing, the aircraft hit a pothole, went out of control and came to rest with serious damages. The the pilot was uninjured and the aircraft was considered as damaged beyond repair.
Probable cause:
Loss of control upon landing after hitting a pothole on ground.

Crash of a Levasseur PL.8 in the Atlantic Ocean: 2 killed

Date & Time: May 9, 1927
Type of aircraft:
Levasseur PL.8
Operator:
Charles Nungesser
Registration:
L'Oiseau Blanc
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Private
Survivors:
No
Site:
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Schedule:
Paris - New York
MSN:
PL.8-01
YOM:
1927
Location:
Atlantic Ocean
All World
Country:
World
Region:
World
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
2
Circumstances:
Named L'Oiseau Blanc, the aircraft took off at 0517LT on 8 May 1927 from Paris-Le Bourget Airport, heading for New York with two French aviators on board: Charles Nungesser and François Coli. They tried to make the first transatlantic non stop flight from Paris to New York counting for the Orteig Prize. The biplane weighed 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) on takeoff, extremely heavy for a single-engined aircraft. The intended flight path was a great circle route, which would have taken them across the English Channel, over the southwestern part of England and Ireland, across the Atlantic to Newfoundland, then south over Nova Scotia, to Boston, and finally to a water landing in New York. L'Oiseau Blanc had been carrying a sizable load of fuel, 4,000 liters (1,056.7 US gal), which would have given them approximately 42 hours of flight time. Crowds of people gathered in New York to witness the historic arrival, with tens of thousands of people crowding Battery Park in Manhattan to have a good view of the Statue of Liberty, where the aircraft was scheduled to touch down. After their estimated time of arrival had passed, with no word as to the aircraft's fate, it was realized that the aircraft had been lost. Rumors circulated that L'Oiseau Blanc had been sighted along its route, in Newfoundland, or over Long Island, and despite the launch of an international search, further search efforts were eventually abandoned on 09JUN1927. As of 2008, the landing gear is the only confirmed part of the L'Oiseau Blanc remaining, and is on display at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (French Air and Space Museum), in Le Bourget Airport in Paris, the location from which L'Oiseau Blanc took off. This landing gear was dropped by the crew shortly after takeoff from Le Bourget.
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