London-Gatwick

Flight 316 was a scheduled international flight from Beauvais, France to Gatwick, England. It took off from runway 23 at Beauvais at 1948 hours GMT. At 2009 hours it contacted London Airways reporting over Abbeville, with an estimated time of arrival at the Paris/London FIR boundary of 2020 hours. At 2030 hours at the request of London Airways the aircraft reported 2036 as its estimated time of arrival at Lydd, whereas taking the wind into account it should have been 2040 hours. In fact the aircraft reported over Lydd at 2040 hours and, on the basis of the radar observations of London Airport which followed the aircraft from 2036 hours onwards, the aircraft probably flew over this point at 2041 hours or 2042 hours. At 2040 hours the aircraft reported its estimated time of arrival at Mayfield as 2058 hours, a dead reckoning calculation which this time allowed for the wind. At 2040 hours London Airways asked the flight to confirm its estimated time of arrival at Mayfield. It was when the co-pilot began the VHF transmission to reply to this query that he first noticed that his transmitter was not working, then that the No. 2 VHF, the ILS receiver, the radio compasses, the starboard generator and the two inverters had also failed. The aircraft lighting, however, was still working. The pilot-in-command handed over the controls to the co-pilot and went to inspect the main electrical panel. As he did not have the necessary tools, he was unable to remove the main radio fuse in order to inspect it. He checked the circuit breakers on the radio electrical panel and found that they were in the normal position. He also noted that the inverters were no longer working. On returning to his seat he asked the co-pilot to make the same checks. The co-pilot changed some fuses but he also was unable to remove the main fuse which he found was very hot. As he had no means of radio communication or navigation, the pilot-in-command considered that he could not continue on his route to Gatwick without incurring a collision risk and, more particularly, that it would be dangerous for him to try to descend to within visual reference of the ground, in view of the cloud bases of 120 to 200 m in the meteorological forecasts. He therefore decided to turn on to a southerly heading in order to descend below cloud over the sea and then to determine his position by identifying a town on the south coast of England. At 2053 hours, London Radar observed the left-hand turn of approximately 90' made by the aircraft. According to the pilot-in-command, the aircraft maintained a magnetic heading of 2000 for 15 minutes, which corresponds to a true track of 1710. At about 2108 hours the aircraft, which was then about 20 miles from the English coast south of Hastings, went on to an easterly heading and came down to 2 000 ft using the Beauvais QNH (1 012 mbs). After flying for 5 minutes on this heading, the pilot-in-command was still without any visual contact with the ground and he returned to a southerly heading, considering that the cloud base over France would be appreciably higher than over England. He came down to 1 000 ft and finally saw the lights of a ship and then the lights of a town (Le Tréport) which he failed to identify. The aircraft arrived in the vicinity of Le Tréport at 2140 hours. After flying over the town a number of times the crew fired Very lights but saw no response on the ground, although local authorities and members of the aero club went to En-Mers/Le Tréport airport and illuminated the landing strip with car headlights. During this time the pilot-in-command saw a beach lit up by the lights of a promenade and suitably orientated for a landing, taking into account the direction of the wind at the time. The pilot-in-command then decided that unless he could determine his position with certainty and therefore be able to reach Beauvais in absolute safety, it was preferable to attempt an emergency landing on such a beach rather than run the risk of landing, short of fuel, in the open in the French countryside without any visual reference to the ground and with the danger of colliding with some unknown obstruction. After having flown up and down the coast, in an attempt to determine his position, he finally decided to land when the starboard engine showed signs of fuel failure. He immediately switched the starboard engine on to the port main tank, which contained about 20 gallons more than the starboard main tank. He made his last circuit at about 500 ft, with the landing lights on and the undercarriage up, and came in to land on a WSW heading in the area lit up by the promenade lighting, as near as possible to the shore. The landing was relatively soft, although at the end of the run the port wing tip struck a concrete groyne. The accident occurred at 2240 hours GMT. The location of the beach was 50° 04 N 01° 23 E. All 33 occupants were evacuated and five of them were slightly injured.

Flight 355 took off from London for a flight to Singapore via Istanbul. The first approach to Istanbul runway 24 was abandoned because the pilot-in-command couldn't see the runway lights. Heavy rain continued as the pilot approached for the second time. VHF communications were lost during a short period of time because of a power failure in the tower transmitter and was restored when the plane was in the procedure turn. Lightning and heavy turbulence were reported during the descent and the runway was sighted when descending to 500 feet. The pilot made a slight correction to the right and ordered full flaps and power reduction to 20" boost. The plane sank quickly just short of the runway and more power was ordered, but the left main gear had struck the ground in line with the runway, 72 m short of the threshold. The plane bounced and touched down again 14 m further on. The left main gear as well as nose gear collapsed, causing the no. 1 and 2 engines to break off, followed by the entire left wing. The fuselage skidded 260 m down the runway and a fire developed.

While on approach to Marville AFB, the airplane crashed in the Montmédy forest, few km north of the runway 12 threshold. Eight occupants were killed while three others were seriously injured.

After a flight of some two hours, made for the purpose of testing radio navigation equipment, the aircraft returned to London-Gatwick Airport, U.K.. Before, and during, the flight, undercarriage operation was normal, as was the functioning of the undercarriage light and horn warning system. During the approach, the undercarriage extended normally, and the green lights indicated that it was locked down. Some 50 yards after touch down, the aircraft began to sink on the starboard side and the captain noticed that the starboard green light was no longer showing. There were, however, no reds, and the horn was not sounding. The starboard main undercarriage leg eventually retracted and the aircraft swung off the runway to the right, on to the grass.

The aircraft left London-Gatwick Airport at 2013LT on a charter flight to Perpignan with 36 passengers and a crew of four on board. At 2315LT, the crew was cleared to continue direct to Perpignan maintaining the altitude of 9,500 feet. At 0008LT, the crew was cleared by Marseille Control to descend to FL65 and then FL55 seven minutes later. While approaching Perpignan, the crew was informed about the poor weather conditions at destination with thunderstorm activity. At this time, the crew informed ground that the radiocompas settings were inexploitable due to the violent storm. While cruising in low visibility, the airplane struck trees and crashed on the Roc de Planes, in the massif of the Mottes-Rouges, near the village of Py. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all 40 occupants were killed. The wreckage was found some 48 km southwest of Perpignan-Rivesaltes Airport at an altitude of 1,810 meters.
Crew:
Max-Marie Dunoyer de Lescheraine, pilot,
Léopold Marold, copilot,
Émile-Lucien Jamin, navigator,
Muriel Tiberghain, stewardess.

The aircraft was coming from Gatwick, England, and after reporting over Toulouse at about 0030 hours GMT it headed directly for Perpignan, France, at flight level 75. It was expected over the aerodrome at about 0112, and it was seen shortly before 0100 by various witnesses in the Prades area, during intermittent rain and wind of variable force. It struck the mountain side in level flight in the Canigou Massif at about 0100 hours. The wreckage, located at an elevation of 2 200 m at 1350 on the same day by a Search and Rescue Constellation, was destroyed by the impact and by fire. There were no survivors. Three crew and 31 passengers were aboard the flight.

The twin engine aircraft was performing a charter flight from Palm de Majorca to London-Gatwick Airport with an intermediate stop at Lyon-Bron. Shortly after takeoff from Bron Airport, while climbing, both engines failed quite simultaneously. The pilot attempted an emergency landing and the aircraft crash landed in a field located near the airport. All 40 occupants were evacuated safely while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Crashed on landing at La Baule-Escoublac Airport for unknown reason. There were no injuries but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The Viscount was taxiing along the runway after landing when a hydraulic system pressure loss occurred. Wheel brakes and nosewheel steering were inoperative and the plane left the runway, rolling down an area of downslope. Because of the hydraulic system pressure loss an attempt by the pilot to raise the gear, failed. The aircraft came to rest against the control tower. Investigation revealed a fractured pipe line and faulty operation of a non-return valve intended to conserve pressure if there were a pressure loss in the main hydraulic system.
Source:
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19600105-0

Nineteen minutes after it departed Barcelona Airport, while cruising at an altitude of 5,600 feet, the airplane entered clouds and struck the slope of Mt Montseny (1,712 meters high) located about 60 km northeast of Barcelona-El Prat Airport. The airplane was destroyed and all 32 occupants were killed, among them 28 British students and one teacher. At the time of the accident, the airplane deviated about 16 km from the prescribed departure route out from Barcelona, probably following a navigation error on part of the crew. The mountain was shrouded in clouds and the visibility was nil when the airplane impacted terrain.