Bristol Britannia - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

Fourteen Britannias were lost with a total of 365 fatalities between 1954 and 1980. The worst accident was the 1967 Nicosia Britannia disaster with a loss of life totalling 126.

• On 4 February 1954, the second Britannia prototype crashed at Severn Beach, Gloucestershire. During the test flight, beginning with a loss of oil pressure, the No. 3 engine was shut down and restarted with a fire breaking out that could not be contained, consequently, No. 4 was shut down as a precaution. On approach to Filton Airport, there was concern that the uncontrolled fire would lead to a failure of the main spar, the pilot electing to make an emergency landing on the mudflats of the Severn Estuary. There were no fatalities.
• On 6 November 1957, the 300 series prototype crashed during a test flight, killing the 15 occupants.
• On 24 December 1958, a BOAC Britannia 312 on a test flight crashed at Winkton, killing nine of the passengers and crew on board.
• On 12 October 1957, "Sirius" a Royal Air Force C1 was damaged beyond repair after over-running the runway at RAF Khormaksar, Aden.
• On 22 July 1962, a Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 a Britannia 314 was destroyed during an attempted "go-around" following a three-engined approach at Honolulu Airport, Hawaii.
• On 29 February 1964, British Eagle International Airlines Flight 802 crashed into the Glungezer mountain near Innsbruck killing all 83 people aboard.
• On 1 September 1966, a Britannia Airways Britannia 102 crashed while landing at Ljubljana, Slovenia, resulting in a total of 98 fatalities out of 117 passengers and crew. The probable cause was the flight crew having failed to set their altimeter to QFE instead of QNH, creating a 980 feet (300 m) error in indicated altitude.
• On 20 April 1967, a Globe Air Britannia 313 was on a flight from Bangkok to Basel with intermediate stops at Colombo, Mumbai (Bombay) and Cairo. The crew didn't fly to Cairo, but elected to fly to Nicosia instead, where a missed approach and subsequent low circuit ended in impact near the airport perimeter.
• On 16 February 1980, a Britannia 253F crashed at Billerica, Massachusetts, shortly after taking off from Boston. The probable cause of the accident was degraded aerodynamic performance beyond the flight capabilities of the aircraft resulting from an accumulation of ice and snow on the airframe before takeoff and a further accumulation of ice when the aircraft was flown into moderate to severe icing conditions following takeoff. Contributing to the cause of the accident were encounters with wind shear, downdrafts, and turbulence during the climb. Of eight crew and passengers on board, there were seven fatalities with one seriously injured.