Crash of an Avro 616 Avian IVM in the Tanezrouft Desert: 1 killed
Date & Time:
Apr 12, 1933
Registration:
G-ABLK
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Reggane – Gao
MSN:
523
YOM:
1931
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
1
Circumstances:
The pilot departed London on a solo flight to South Africa with several en route stops. In the evening, he departed Reggane on a leg to Gao, Mali. About an hour into the flight, while cruising at night, the engine failed. The pilot attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft crashed some 275 km south of Reggane, in the Tanezrouft Desert. As the airplane failed to arrive in Gao, SAR operations were initiated but eventually suspended as no trace of the airplane nor the pilot was found. On February 10, 1962, a French military patrol found the wreckage that and the dead body of the pilot that was mummified. In 1975, the wreckage was transferred to the Queensland Museum in Brisbane. It was later determined that the pilot survived the accident but died 8 days later of hunger and thirst.
Probable cause:
Engine failure for unknown reasons.
