Staines Air Crash Commemoration
 

Today, June 18th, is fifty years since a Trident aircraft crashed after take off from Heathrow, killing all 118 on board. This remains the worst aviation accident the United Kingdom.
There will be a church service later this morning, then a re-dedication of a memorial which is near to the crash site this afternoon.

I’m a huge Air Crash Investigation fan so know this one well.

'twas a decent turnout with a large contingent from Belgium, the flight had been destined for Brussels.
Some interesting people who had key roles on the day.
Certainly some of the occurrences on the day led to some of the safety that we take for granted now.

Was this a door problem where the closing handle was forced and door fell off? Many lives lost to this fault as other planes also went down.
I too like Air Crash investigation. Staggering how many crashes are the result of "stupidity"

macafee2

Was this the Trident flown by a Stanley Key, he had a run in with some pilots earlier on over strike issues and was in a foul mood during the take off.

He had throttled back too much to avoid noise and the aircraft lost height missing electric pylons before hitting the ground.

You are thinking of the DC10 door problems?

Dont know if it was a DC10 but yes, door problems.

I have just Googled the crash, it was not a door problem.


macafee2

Yes, that’s the one

There has been something similar on TV, Disasters at Sea.
I quite like that too

macafee2

It was the Papa India Trident,, as stated by Graham.
Maladjustments of lift devices during noise abatement transition with miscalculation of take-off speeds led to a stall from low cloud.
One hundred and eighteen people died.
Safety features introduced because of this incident are taken for granted by millions of aircraft users, cockpit voice recorders being the most important.

They closed the flaps too soon if I recall and the lost lift.

I was living only a few miles down the road from that crash site.

Yes I remember the crash, if they hadn't retracted the flaps and more importantly the leading edge slats too soon it would have been ok. The leading edge slats shouldn't have been retracted unless the airspeed was over 255 knots.

The flaps/slats on the Trident provided very good lift even at fairly slow speeds. The Rolls Royce Speys were a bit noisy and the attempt to keep the noise level within the noise abatement levels could be difficult and pilots got a black mark if they exceeded them.

Russ

The engines fitted to Tridents were Rolls Royce Speys, and the noise abatement restrictions are still in force today, though all engines are quieter.

There's a number of programmes on the digi channels that cover air crash investigations. Very interesting they are too, some of the reasons for the incidents are quite worrying. Glad I don't fly.

The film Sulley with Tom Hanks is very good, little bit of artistic licence, but otherwise well presented. Well it's Tom Hanks.

Also Freefall: Flight 174. Another good portrayal which highlights how it's not just one issue that results in an incident.

Wasn't aware of this particular incident though.