Vickers Viscount

The aircraft was temporarily based at the Jan Smuts Airport where the manufacturers were conducting experimental flights which included measured takeoff s and landings. The data had to be obtained for incorporation in the Aircraft Flight Manual to be associated with the certification for public transport operation. The aircraft was being operated in the special categories Research or Experimental and Demonstration. The captain was cleared to use runway 03, the main instrument runway, and took off at 1040 hours on an experimental flight. After completing a circuit, the captain was cleared to land back on runway 03. He approached the runway, holding at 300 - 400 feet until he passed over the threshold. At this point the angle of descent increased to about 45°. The descent continued until the aircraft was about 70 feet above the surface of the runway where it leveled out, but the path of descent appeared to remain fixed at about 45° until touchdown where upon the main bogies appeared to move rearwards and inwards with the starboard side moving rearwards somewhat further than the port side. After this the aircraft bounced a few feet before settling down further along the runway. At this stage heavy smoke was emitted from both bogies as the aircraft continued forward. It finally swung to the right and off the runway and came to rest on a heading of 180° M at a point approximately 1,590 yards from the threshold. No one was killed or injured, but the aircraft was substantially damaged.

The aircraft was reaching the end of a scheduled passenger flight from Schiphol, Amsterdam, with a crew of 5 and 15 passengers aboard. Until the aircraft was roughly a mile from the threshold of the runway it was apparently making a perfectly normal approach, then it made a banked turn to starboard and continued to descend until the starboard wing tip struck the ground. With the starboard wing furrowing the earth and breaking up, the aircraft, obviously completely out of control, went on until it struck some houses, demolishing two of them (in one of which a woman and her infant son were killed). The aircraft came to rest in the ruins of the houses and immediately caught fire and set fire to the houses. All the crew members and passengers were killed in the accident. The position of the final crash was about 900 yards short of the runway and 200 yards to the right of its extended centre line.

The crew left Paris-Orly Airport at 0849LT on a training flight to Reims, carrying three pilots, one instructor and one controller from the Vilgenis Instruction center. After takeoff, the crew climbed to 3,000 feet and above the cloud layer, continued under VFR. At 0858LT, the captain requested permission to climb to 5,000 feet when control was lost. The airplane entered a dive and crashed in a field located in Dannemois, about 31 km south of Paris-Orly Airport. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all five crew members were killed.
Crew:
Mr. Marchandise,
Mr. Brunot,
Mr. Colsy,
Mr. Heymard,
Mr. Nicolai.

Capital Airlines flight 141 of February 20, 1956, originated at Willow Run Airport, Detroit, Michigan, and was a regularly scheduled flight to Chicago. The crew consisted of Captain Roger Harrison Taylor, First Officer George Richard Hanst and Stewardesses Jacqueline V. Sadowski and Gloria Galloway. Captain R. E. Gilliland, the fifth assigned crew member, was deadheading to Chicago and rode in the passenger cabin. Following a weather briefing, which included a review of en route and terminal weather forecasts, a VFR flight plan was filed. Departure from Detroit was at 0700. The gross takeoff weight of the air- craft was 54,701 pounds, which was below the specified limit; the load was distributed properly with respect to the center of gravity of the aircraft. The flight to the vicinity of Chicago was routine. Near Chicago Flight 141 reported to the Chicago tower that it was over the shoreline. The flight later reported passing Kedzie and was cleared to land on runway 31R. The flight was observed to make a right turn to final approach and appeared to descend in a normal manner until over the west side of Cicero Avenue (the eastern boundary of the airport) at an altitude of 25 to 50 feet above the ground. At this point the airplane appeared to decelerate and descend rapidly. The aircraft was further observed to strike the ground in a slightly nose-up attitude several hundred feet short of the threshold of threshold of the runway, and the top of the fuselage was seen to break open adjacent to the wing spar to fuselage attachment. As the aircraft proceeded down the runway the landing gear retracted and the aircraft then slid on its belly until it came to rest to the left of the runway, 1,626 feet beyond the point of initial impact. All occupants left the aircraft through emergency exits or the main cabin door. The fire department, having been called by tower personnel, arrived at the scene before all persons had evacuated the aircraft. However, there was no fire. The Chicago weather at 0720 was reported as: Sky clear, visibility 6 miles; smoke; wind north-northwest.

The aircraft took off from London Airport at 0755LT on a training flight, which was part of a routine base check being carried out by a training captain on a line captain. Having completed the first part of the check the aircraft landed at Blackbushe. At approximately 0850LT a takeoff was commenced from this airport for another exercise. On reaching the takeoff safety speed the training captain simulated a starboard outer engine failure. At this point the aircraft was just leaving the ground and as it did so the starboard inner propeller was seen to be stopping and the aircraft began turning to the right with an increasing amount of bank. It rose to about 30 feet and then descended and hit the ground at a point 250 yards from the runway in a steeply banked, nose-down attitude. It cartwheeled, slid along the ground backwards for 200 yards and came to rest just inside the northwest boundary of the aerodrome. The aircraft sustained major impact damage and fire broke out which almost completely destroyed it. The five occupants escaped with only slight injuries.

The crew (pilots and engineers) were engaged in a local training flight at Mangalore Airport, Victoria. During the takeoff roll on runway 22, after it reached V1 speed, the instructor shut down the engine number four and feathered its propeller to simulate an engine failure. The pilot-in-command continued the takeoff procedure. Shortly after rotation, the aircraft turned to the right and reached the height of 100 feet when it stalled and crashed in flames in a field located less than one km west of the airfield. Five crew members were injured (three of them seriously) while three pilots were killed. The aircraft was destroyed. The takeoff from which the accident resulted was being attempted in the most critical three-engine configuration, i.e. with number 4 engine (starboard outer) inoperative. In this configuration, with flaps extended 20° and the three engines on full power, a minimum speed of 96 knots is necessary in order to ensure that, using both rudder and aileron, a constant heading can be maintained. When flying under these conditions at speeds below 96 knots it is not possible to keep the aircraft from turning. The takeoff safety speed for the conditions existing at the time of this accident is given in the flight manual for Viscount VH-TVA as 106 knots and it has been the practice of Trans- Australia Airlines to teach its pilots not to lift the aircraft off the ground at speeds below 110 knots in a three-engine takeoff. It has been calculated that with normal acceleration in a three-engine take-off the speed of the aircraft when it left the runway would have been 85 to 90 knots which was too low.