British Caledonian - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

BCal had an enviable safety record during its 17-year existence. Its aircraft were never involved in fatal accidents.

However, there were a few noteworthy non-fatal incidents involving the airline's aircraft.

• On 28 January 1972, a Vickers VC10-1109 (registration: G-ARTA) sustained severe structural damage as a result of an exceptionally hard landing at Gatwick at the end of a short ferry flight from Heathrow, where the aircraft had been diverted due to Gatwick being fog-bound and where all passengers had disembarked. A survey of the aircraft's damage revealed that its airframe had been bent out of shape and that it required extensive repairs to be restored to an airworthy condition. The airline's senior management decided that these repairs were not cost-effective. The aircraft was written off and a decision taken to have it scrapped. It was eventually broken up at Gatwick in 1975. (This aircraft had been the VC10's prototype. It had subsequently been converted as a 1109 series passenger aircraft before being sold in February 1968 to Laker Airways, who immediately leased it out to Middle East Airlines (MEA). Laker Airways sold on the aircraft to BUA. The handover occurred on 1 April 1969 at the conclusion of the MEA leasing contract.)
• On 19 July 1972, a BAC One-Eleven 501EX (registration: G-AWYS) sustained substantial damage as a result of aborting its takeoff too late. Operating the return leg of a non-scheduled passenger flight between the UK and Corfu, the aircraft passed through a pool of standing water close to its decision speed (V1) during the takeoff run at Corfu Airport. This caused a temporary reduction of engine thrust from water ingestion, resulting in a momentary loss of aircraft acceleration. The flight's commander interpreted this as a failure of the plane's no. 1 engine that demanded an immediate rejection of the takeoff. This chain of events was thought to have delayed by about three seconds the flight deck crew's decision to abandon their takeoff. As a result, it was impossible to bring the aircraft to a halt within the remaining runway distance, and after crossing some rough ground, it finally came to rest in a 1 m (3.3 ft)-deep lagoon. None of the 85 occupants (six crew members and 79 passengers) was seriously injured, but an elderly female passenger subsequently died of cardiac arrest on her way to hospital.