Proteus Airlines Flight 706
Proteus Airlines Flight 706 was a scheduled commuter flight from Lyon, France to Lorient, France. On July 30, 1998, the Beechcraft 1900D operating the flight collided in mid-air with a Cessna 177 over Quiberon Bay, Brittany. This accident was known as Quiberon Bay mid-air collision. Both aircraft crashed in the sea, killing fifteen people. Accident Flight 706 took off from Lyon–Saint-Exupéry at 12:21 local time on a flight to Lorient Lann-Bihoué airport. About seventy minutes into the flight, the crew made a request to the Lorient approach controller to deviate from their route slightly to the west to Quiberon Bay. The reason for this detour was to give the passengers and crew a view of the SS Norway (previously named SS France), at that time the longest ocean liner ever built in France. Later examinations of the 1900D's cockpit voice recorder revealed that a passenger made his way to the cockpit and told the pilot and co-pilot of the presence of the Norway nearby, then suggested that the crew fly the aircraft closer to the ship. At the time of this request, a Cessna 177 registered F-GAJE belonging to a local flying club took off from the airfield at Vannes