Airlines

French investigators have opened an inquiry after a Fokker 100 operated by Air France subsidiary Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne overshot the runway during take-off at Pau Béarn airport yesterday, hitting a works vehicle on a nearby road and killing its driver.

Air France says none of the flight’s 50 passengers and four crew members was hurt in the accident (pictured below).

© AP/Empics

Flight AF7775 was flying the scheduled Paris Charles de Gaulle route from Pau in southwest France. The aircraft bears the registration F-GMPG and, according to Flight's fleet database ACAS, is a 1992 model owned by Régional.

There are no details yet as to reasons why the aircraft overshot the runway. Weather data for the airport at the time of the accident, around 11:15, showed good visibility but light snow.

The jet eventually came to a halt on the edge of a field near a public road where the collision with the vehicle is thought to have taken place. French civil aviation authority DGAC says an investigation into the accident is underway and its initial statement says bird ingestion was the likely cause.

In a statement Air France says: “At the time of the incident, the aircraft hit a vehicle on the road nearby, killing one of the drivers and injuring the passenger.”

Air France is unable to comment on the factors behind the accident.