KLM Royal Dutch Airlines - Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij

It was determined that:
- When the pilot started his landing maneuver for runway 26 of Prestwick Airport the weather conditions were already below the limits for this maneuver but that from the weather forecasts received this could not be known to him and that this could not be personally judged at the time.
- That, although the landing on runway 26 under the weather conditions, as far as these were known to the pilot, required the greatest caution, the pilot could not be blamed for having commenced that landing procedure.
- That flying too long on the downwind-leg of runway 26 caused the accident.
- That, if no unknown circumstances contributed to the extension of the flight on the downwind-leg of runway 26, the extension was due to the delayed action of the pilot after he lost visual approach.
- That it was not impossible that a stronger wind that the pilot accounted for contributed to the extension of the flight on the downwind-leg of runway 26.
- That the possibility of other circumstances as mentioned under 4 could not be ruled out, but that no data was available which could give cause for the supposition that they contributed to the extension of the flight at a low altitude on the downwind-leg of runway 26.

It was determined that the captain adopted a wrong approach configuration with an insufficient approach speed with full flaps selected, causing the aircraft to stall and hit the ground short of runway threshold.

It is possible that the accident may have been caused by a fault in the time position of the screw system of the engine number one, whereby the blade angle of this screw was incorrect. Unfortunately, this could not be demonstrated conclusively. In addition of that, the reaction from the crew when the aircraft started to deviate from the path and the correction with the rudder was approximately 3.5 seconds, which lead the aircraft to become out of control.

Engine failure.

It was determined that the loss of control during initial climb was caused by stabilizers blocked by a wooded lock pin. During the stopover in Copenhagen-Kastrup, a ground technician decided to put a wooded lock pin in the rudder and the stabilizer as well to avoid unnecessary movements that could cause damages as there were moderate winds in Copenhagen at that time. Before takeoff, one technician removed the wooded lock pin on the rudder but did remove the one on the stabilizer as this wooded lock pin was put by another ground technician and he was not aware of this. Furthermore, none of the crew member proceeded to a walk around check before departure and the pilots failed to check the stabilizers prior to takeoff.

It is believed that the approach configuration was wrong. Poor weather conditions were considered as a contributory factor.

Flying into high ground in conditions of low cloud and poor visibility. This must be attributed to errors on the part of the pilot who, preparatory to landing at Croydon Airport in QBI conditions.
Failed to navigate his aircraft with sufficient degree of care to avoid high ground when descending through cloud.
During the descent misinterpreted the height of the aircraft as indicated by his altimeter.

The exact cause of the accident could not be determined. Nevertheless, the weather conditions were marginal with storm activity and turbulence at the time of the accident.