Jersey

The aircraft was on a VFR flight from Dinan, France, to Jersey, Channel Islands and had joined the circuit on right base for Runway 09 at Jersey Airport. The aircraft turned onto the runway heading and was slightly left of the runway centreline. It commenced a descent and a left turn, with the descent continuing to 100 ft. The pilot made a short radio transmission during the turn and then the aircraft’s altitude increased rapidly to 600 ft before it descended and disappeared from the radar. The aircraft probably stalled in the final pull-up manoeuvre, leading to loss of control and impact with the sea, fatally injuring those on board, Carl Whiteley and his wife.

The crew, comprising a commander, co-pilot and cabin crewmember, reported for duty at 0620 hrs at Guernsey Airport. The commander was conducting line training of the co-pilot, a first officer who had recently joined the companyThe first sector was to be from Guernsey to Jersey. No problems were identified during the pre-flight preparation and the aircraft departed on time at 0705 hrs, with the commander acting as handling pilot. The short flight was without incident and the weather for landing was reported as good, with the wind from 210° at 16 kt, FEW cloud at 2,000 ft and visibility in excess of 10 km. The commander elected to carry out a visual approach to Runway 27 at Jersey, using a planned approach speed of 107 kt and flap 30 selected for landing. During the approach, the gear was selected down and the flight crew confirmed the three green ‘gear safe’ indication lights were illuminated, indicating that the gear was locked in the down position. The commander reported that both the approach and touchdown seemed normal, with the crosswind from the left resulting in the left main gear touching first. Just after touchdown both pilots heard a noise and the commander stated the aircraft appeared to settle slightly differently from usual. This made him believe that a tyre had burst. The cabin crew member also heard a noise after touchdown which she too thought was from a tyre bursting. The commander selected ground idle and partial reverse pitch and, as the aircraft decelerated through 70 kt, the co-pilot took over control of the ailerons, as per standard procedures, to allow the commander to take control of the steering tiller. The co-pilot reported that despite applying corrective inputs the aircraft continued rolling to the left. A member of ground operations staff, situated at Holding Point E, reported to the tower controller that the left landing gear leg of the aircraft did not appear to be down properly as it passed him. The aircraft continued to quickly roll to the left until the left wingtip and propeller contacted the runway. The aircraft remained on the runway, rapidly coming to a halt to the left of the centreline, approximately abeam Holding Point D. Both propellers continued to rotate and the commander selected the condition levers to the fuel shutoff position and pulled the fire handles to shut both engines down. The tower controller, seeing the incident, pressed the crash alarm and airfield emergency services were quickly in attendance.

The single engine airplane, owned by a German company based in Allendorf, departed Jersey Island on a flight to Allendorf-Eder Airport. While in cruising altitude over the east part of Paris in poor weather conditions, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in a colza field located in Thury-en-Valois. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces but did not catch fire. All six occupants were killed. At the time of the accident, the airplane was flying in very poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity.

The pilot, sole on board, departed Tangier on a delivery flight to Saint Peter-La Villiaze, Guernsey Island, where the aircraft should be taken over by another crew to be ferried to Iceland. While approaching the Channel Islands, the pilot informed ATC about technical problems and elected to divert to Jersey Airport. Shortly later, after both engines stopped due to a fuel exhaustion, the plane lost height and crashed in the sea about 3 nm northwest of Jersey Island. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was killed.

Jersey European Airways Flight 245 departed from Jersey Airport (JER) at 17:29 hrs UTC. This was a delayed flight since the aircraft originally allocated to the service G-BESO, had developed an engine fault shortly after takeoff and had returned to Jersey. Britten-Norman Islander G-BDNP was then made available as a replacement aircraft. The prevailing weather was a westerly wind with a cloud base of around 1,500 feet, and Flight 245 was cleared on a Special VFR flight plan to Guernsey (GCI) at a height not above 1,000 feet. When about 8 miles from the Guernsey coast the aircraft, under Guernsey Approach Radar Control, was directed to turn north towards the island of Herm as a delaying manoeuvre to allow a Partenavia, G-BFSU, inbound from the north-east to approach first. Shortly after making the turn the starboard propeller of G-BDNP began to hunt - a condition where the propeller blade angle alters in order to maintain a constant propeller RPM as the engine power fluctuates. The engine did not fail completely, so the Commander decided not to feather the propeller but requested from Air Traffic Control (ATC) a more direct approach to Guernsey Airport. This was agreed by ATC who then requested the Partenavia to carry out a right hand orbit in order to allow the Islander to approach first. Following closely behind the Islander was a Twin Otter, call sign G-BIMW. This resulted in a new landing sequence of the Islander, the Otter and then the Partenavia. The Commander of the Islander meanwhile had been trying to rectify the erratic running of the starboard engine by adjusting the carburettor heat and mixture controls, and by switching 'On' the auxiliary fuel pumps, but this did not achieve any improvement. He was, however, able to maintain 600 feet until established on a long final approach to runway 27 when the port engine suddenly lost power. As the aircraft yawed to port due to the power loss the starboard engine suddenly regained power for about one second, further accentuating the yaw. Realising that he could not now continue his approach to the airport he chose a landing site in an area of fields. He then selected the engine fuel mixture controls to 'Off' in order to prevent a sudden burst of power upsetting the approach, lowered full flap and carried out an emergency landing. The pilot stated that after touching down in one field the aircraft cleared a 6 feet high stone wall and then landed in the next field. Ground marks showed that it then travelled about 190 feet before the port main plane struck and then rode over a stone wall. This broke off the port undercarriage and deflected the aircraft to the right. It then continued through a five-bar gate, crossed a road, and came to rest in the driveway of a guest house. There was no fire and the passengers and the Commander were able to leave the aircraft through the doors and emergency windows. The Commander sustained severe laceration of his legs, broken fingers, and a head injury, but was able to assist in the evacuation of the eight passengers who had received only minor injuries. One of the passengers went immediately to the guest house and made an emergency telephone call for fire and ambulance assistance.

The pilot had completed three flights previous to the accident flight on the same day. He left Jersey at 0729 hrs to fly to Coventry via Cardiff for a day of business meetings in the Midlands and to return, again via Cardiff, to Jersey in the evening. Before leaving Coventry at 1729 hrs he had filed Air Traffic Control (ATC) Flight Plans for the sectors to Cardiff and to Jersey, he also checked the weather conditions at Jersey. The conditions shown in the forecast were of poor weather with low cloud and visibility intermittently falling to 400 metres in drizzle with 7 oktas of cloud below 100 feet. The 1650 hrs weather report for Jersey was noted on the top of his copy of the flight plan, this showed: surface wind 2900 at 11 knots, visibility 6000 metres, cloud 4 oktas at 100 feet, 7 oktas at 200 feet, intermittently becoming 3000 metres visibility in drizzle with 6 oktas cloud at 100 feet. Sufficient fuel for a return flight from Jersey was on-loaded at Cardiff, the pilot remarked, to the Customs Officer, that he might have to return because of the weather at Jersey. The aircraft departed Cardiff for Jersey at 1821 hrs. It could not be established whether the pilot obtained the latest weather reports for Jersey, issued at 1720 hrs and 1750 hrs whilst at Cardiff; or if he availed himself of the in-flight weather broadcast service by London Volmet South, which transmitted the 1820 hrs Jersey weather report whilst en route. Had he done so, he would have been aware of deteriorating landing conditions because the 1820 hrs report for Jersey showed: visibility 300 metres, runway visual range (RVR) 800 metres in drizzle and 8 oktas of cloud below 200 feet. By 1842 hrs the aircraft was descending towards Jersey. The pilot was in radio contact with 'Jersey Zone' ATC, he had received his inbound clearance and had been advised of the latest weather conditions at Jersey. Radar guidance was provided by Jersey Zone, then later, by Jersey Approach Control who also advised that the RVR had fallen to 850 metres and, later, to 650 metres. On receipt of this information the pilot asked for the Guernsey weather. He was informed that the weather at Guernsey had improved to 1800 metres visibility although the cloud base was still below 100 feet. At 1857 hrs, when at 7 miles on the approach to runway 27 at Jersey, the pilot reported that he was established on the Instrument Landing System (lLS). He then contacted Jersey Tower controller who cleared G-BPCP to land. During the final stages of the approach, about 45 seconds before the crash, the Tower controller advised that the RVR had improved to 850 metres. This message was not acknowledged. The approach controller continued to observe the progress of the aircraft towards the runway on his radar screen until it was about one mile from the threshold, at which point it appeared to be on the extended centre line of the runway. The approach controller then left the radar screen and went to the window to watch for the aircraft landing. When the aircraft was half a mile from the runway, it was observed by an eyewitness to be on a normal approach path for runway 27. It was lost to view as it passed behind an adjacent house and almost immediately afterwards there was an increase in engine power. This increase was also heard by a professional pilot who was on the aerodrome, about 500 metres from the end of the runway; he said that the "engines started to spool-up as for an overshoot" and shortly afterwards he saw a flash and heard an explosion. The aircraft struck the roof of a house situated 190 metres to the north of the runway threshold centre line. The house caught fire, the tail of the aircraft lodged in the blazing roof whilst the remaining structure fell into a courtyard where it was destroyed by fire. The four persons occupying the house at the time were able to escape with minor injuries although one, a young girl, was detained in hospital with serious bums. The pilot was killed.