Caledonian Airways - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

During its ten-year existence Caledonian suffered two accidents, one of which was fatal.

The fatal accident occurred on 4 March 1962. A Douglas DC-7C named Star of Robbie Burns (registration: G-ARUD) operating the Douala—Lisbon sector of Caledonian Airways flight 153 (a Lourenço Marques — Luxembourg charter on behalf of Trans Africa Air Coach of London) crashed shortly after a night takeoff from Douala Airport's runway 12, killing all 111 occupants (ten crew and 101 passengers). At the time of the accident, the weather was very hot and humid. After a long takeoff run on the airport's 9,350 ft (2,850 m) long runway, the aircraft gained insufficient height to clear the trees close to the runway end. The aircraft's port wing struck trees 72 ft (22 m) above aerodrome elevation, some 2,300 yd (2,100 m) from the runway end and 500 yd (460 m) from the extended centreline. This resulted in the aircraft crashing into a tidal swamp and exploding on impact. Although this was the only fatal accident in Caledonian's history, it was the deadliest air disaster in British aviation history at the time. The commission of inquiry probing the accident determined that the evidence at the crash site seemed to suggest that a jammed elevator spring tab mechanism prevented the aircraft from attaining sufficient height to clear the obstacles in the runway end's vicinity. This would have resulted in abnormal elevator control forces during takeoff. It was also consistent with tests showing this to prolong takeoff runs that had an attendant risk of losing height during flap retraction when the aircraft became airborne. The commission of inquiry also described a number of adverse features that might have aggravated the circumstances in which the accident occurred. It had furthermore not been able to exclude the possibility of an instrument failure as a probable accident cause as the instruments were either not recovered or too damaged for a valid expert examination.

The non-fatal accident occurred on 28 September 1964. A Douglas DC-7C (registration: G-ASID) operating Caledonian's flight 355 from London Gatwick via Istanbul Yeşilköy to Singapore crash-landed 236 ft (72 m) short of the threshold of Yeşilköy's runway 24 when the aircraft's left main gear struck the ground in line with the runway. This had caused the aircraft to bounce and touch down again 14m further on, which in turn resulted in the nose gear collapsing and engines no. 1 and 2 breaking off, followed by the separation of the entire port wing. The fuselage, which skidded 850 ft (260 m) down the runway, caught fire. Although the aircraft was completely destroyed, all 97 occupants (eight crew and 89 passengers) miraculously survived. The crash-landing followed an abandoned approach to Yeşilköy's runway 24 in heavy rain. The approach was abandoned because the pilot-in-command could not see the runway lights. During the second approach VHF communications were lost for a short time due to the tower transmitter's failure. When transmission resumed, the plane's flightdeck crew reported lightning and heavy turbulence during its descent, and sighting the runway while descending to 500 ft (150 m). This was followed by a slight correction to the right when the pilot-in-command ordered the deployment of full flaps and a reduction in power. It resulted in the plane sinking too quickly just short of the runway. Ordering an immediate increase in power did not prevent the plane from touching the ground short of the runway threshold. The subsequent accident investigation concluded that the probable cause was threefold:

1. the late selection of full flaps and power reduction during the second approach,
2. the crew's inability to control the height precisely due to heavy rain and poor visibility, and
3. the delay in ordering a power increase. The latter resulted in the aircraft undershooting the runway.