Cumbria

At 1705 hrs, the aircraft took off from Cark Airfield with nine parachutists and the pilot on board. The parachutists left the aircraft at about 6,500 feet and the pilot started the descent to land. A low level, left-hand circuit to runway 24 was carried out, the surface wind was less than 5 knots from the south west. It was twilight, however, the sky to the west was still bright from the setting sun and the runway was visible; there was no runway lighting. The pilot had selected the red cockpit lighting to full intensity and both landing lights were on. At 50 feet on final approach the pilot had sufficient visual reference to continue the approach; the aircraft was aligned slightly to the right of the centerline, however, the pilot was able to correct this before touchdown. It was as the main wheels touched down that the pilot realized he no longer had adequate visual reference. Before he could take any corrective action the aircraft started to decelerate and contact was made with an obstruction on the left side. The nosewheel was still clear of the ground when the deceleration became rapid and the aircraft went through a fence, to the left of the runway, and came to rest against a pile of concrete rubble. The pilot who was wearing lap and diagonal upper torso restraint escaped without injury. Shortly afterwards, when he deemed it safe to do so, he returned to the aircraft to complete the shutdown drills. Two sheep were killed in the accident; the pilot recalled seeing a light area on the threshold, and initially thought that the aircraft may have struck the sheep as it touched down. In hindsight he considered that the aircraft probably struck the sheep after it left the runway, and that what he saw was a reflection from the landing light seen through a missed windscreen. He reported that the windscreen has misted up earlier on this flight and on previous flights; no demiser was fitted to the aircraft. He considered that this may have happened again and reduced the already marginal forward visibility.

The aircraft departed Southend at 06:59 UTC, about one hour before sunrise, on a Special VFR clearance. The aircraft flew to Wallasey via Daventry, White gate and the Liverpool Special Rules Zone at 2,400 feet. It could not be determined why the commander chose to fly this route however, some two weeks before the accident he had spent a short holiday at Haverigg which is close to the direct track from Wallasey to Glasgow. On leaving Wallasey, the aircraft tracked north towards Glasgow and, at 08:01 hrs, the crew called Warton aerodrome stating that they were descending to 1,000 feet and requesting a 'Radar Service'. At 08:10 hrs, an aircraft that had just taken off from Blackpool reported a cloud base of between 2,500 and 3,000 feet and a visibility greater than 20 km. At this time the radar transponder on the aircraft was operating but the height encoding facility had not been selected. Recordings of the Great Dunn Fell and the St Anne's ATC radar heads indicated that the aircraft had left Wallasey on a track of 007°M which was maintained until radar contact was lost at 08:13 hrs at a position one mile to the south west of Walney Island airfield near Barrow in Furness. Consideration of the obscuration due to terrain between the radar heads and the aircraft indicated that, at the time of loss of radar contact, the aircraft would have been no higher than 350 feet amsl and possibly lower. At 08:09 hrs, the time of local sunrise, the crew had called Walney Island stating that they were nine miles south of the airfield at 1,000 feet and requesting overflight of the airfield. At 08:12 hrs, the controller at Walney Island sighted the aircraft abeam the airfield at an estimated height of 800 feet and asked the crew to report at Millom which is about eight miles north of Walney Island. At about the same time, a witness on the beach near the airfield saw the aircraft heading north in and out of cloud at a height estimated to be not above 400 feet. The aircraft did not make the requested position report at Millom and, at 08:16 hrs, the controller advised the crew to call London Information for further service. There was no reply to this call. The last person to see the aircraft reported that it was flying steadily north towards Ponsonby Fell and that the cloud in the area of the Fell was covering the ground at 500 feet above sea level. At about 08:15 hrs a farmer, who was some 600 metres from the crash site, heard a bang from the direction of Ponsonby Fell. He stated that at the time that he heard the bang the weather was very bad with a strong wind, rain and mist covering the fell. The aircraft had flown into ground about 15 metres below the top of Ponsonby Fell. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and both occupants were killed.

The aircraft took off from Glasgow at 0317 hrs to fly to Barrow-in-Furness via Dean Cross. It left Dean Cross at flight level 50 on track for Walney Island aerodrome using radar advisory service from Manchester Control. When 12 miles north of his destination, the pilot began a slow descent over a layer of stratus cloud. On reaching Walney Island, he was still above cloud so, using positional advice from radar, he turned out to sea to continue his descent. He turned back to the airfield,still in cloud at 1500 feet and, shortly after fading from radar at approximately 1200 feet over the sea, he advised Manchester Control that he vas overhead the airfield. Air traffic control at Walney Island was not manned at the time and no formal record of local weather exists. Witnesses close to the airfield reported that the wind was calm and visibility was reduced by patchy, low-lying, sea fog. One witness, some 600 meters southwest of the touchdown zone of runway 06, saw the aircraft flying due north at a height he estimated to be between 50 and 100 feet but heard nothing unusual. Another witness, also near the southwest corner of the airfield, heard the aircraft pass overhead travelling north and then heard a cessation of engine noise followed immediately by a dull thud. Both witnesses estimated the surface visibility to be more than 200 meters at the time. The aircraft struck the ground on the centerline but some 30 meters short of the beginning of runway 06 in a steep nose-down, left wing low attitude, and came to rest within 10 meters of the initial impact. Ground marks showed the first impact to have been by the port wingtip followed immediately by the nose of the aircraft, which was crushed. The aircraft appeared then to have pivoted to the right about the nose and starboard wingtip, and to have bounced laterally to the right of the centerline before coming to rest with its tail toward the runway. The flaps were set to 25°. The main undercarriage was relatively undamaged and showed no evidence of having struck the ground during the initial impact sequence.

The aircraft was operating a company communications flight from Edinburgh to Walney Island (Barrow-in-Furness) and departed from Edinburgh at 1908 hrs with five passengers on board, one of whom occupied the right hand pilot's seat. The flight proceeded normally on airways at FL080 until leaving controlled airspace south of Dean Cross at 1940 hrs, when the pilot contacted Walney Island aerodrome and requested the latest weather and landing information. The tower reported that there was heavy rain and a strong wind from 300° at 25 to 30 knots, and the pilot was advised that the runway in use was 30 and the QFE 1001. It was dark night with an estimated visibility of 8 km. The aircraft was next in contact with Walney Island at 1952 hrs when the pilot queried the serviceability of the non-directional beacon (NDB) 'WL'. The tower replied that it was operating. The passenger in the right hand seat states that at about this time the lights of Barrow-in-Furness could be seen intermittently through the clouds, but that the pilot was unable to see the runway lights. The pilot then requested the other runway lights to be put on, and the tower confirmed that all the lights were on. A short time later, the pilot called to say that he was on a left hand base leg for runway 30 and he received clearance to land. The wind was reported to the aircraft at that stage as 300°, 25-30 knots and the weather as continuous rain. The aircraft was observed to make its approach over the slag bank to the south-east of the airfield; one witness stated that as it crossed Walney Channel the aircraft was lower than normal. The passenger in the right hand pilot seat states that the approach appeared normal; the landing lights were on and the left hand wind screen wiper was operating and he could see the runway sodium lights ahead. He was next aware of a sudden increase in engine power and looking ahead, he saw that the runway lights ha disappeared from view. He then saw some trees illuminated by the landing lights and immediately afterwards felt the aircraft's impact with the ground. When the aircraft failed to appear on the runway, the tower operator ordered the emergency services to search the approach end of runway 30. Some difficulty was experienced in locating the aircraft which had crashed below aerodrome level into the west bank of Walney Channel and was out of view. It was only when one of the passengers had extricated himself from the wreckage and climbed the bank, that the aircraft was found. There was no fire, but the aircraft was substantially damaged. The pilot received fatal injuries, and two o the passengers, including the one in the right hand pilot's seat were seriously injured.

The crew was completing a positioning flight from Leeds-Bradford to Carlisle Airport where a delegation of farmers should be pick up on a charter flight to Hawarden. On descent, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and lost his orientation, passing over RAF Crosby at 0900LT without any visual contact with the ground. Thirty-five minutes later, ATC lost contact with the crew and the aircraft that struck the slope of Mt Croglin Fell located in the North Pennines mountains, about 7 miles southeast of Carlisle Airport. The aircraft was destroyed and all four crew members were killed. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were poor with low clouds, gusty winds and heavy rain falls.
Crew:
H. L. Mose, pilot,
A. Francis, copilot,
C. N. Wildman, pilot
Valerie Christian, stewardess.

The crew was performing a flight from Ireland to RAF Crosby, Cumbria. While overflying the Irish Sea, the crew encountered poor weather conditions but decided to continue. While approaching the Carlisle area, the twin engine aircraft went through a low pressure zone with heavy rain falls, turbulences and thunderstorm activity when the aircraft was struck by lightning. All instruments became unusable and the crew elected to locate RAF Crosby without success. Eventually, the captain decided to attempt an emergency landing in a field. The airplane belly landed and came to rest, damaged beyond repair. Both pilots were uninjured.

While cruising at an altitude of 12,000 feet off the Isle of Man, the crew informed ground about vibrations and icing conditions. The pilot obtained the permission to reduce his altitude to 8,000 feet when few minutes later, he sent a brief message saying he was losing control of the aircraft that crashed into the Irish Sea about 6 miles south of Barrow-in-Furness. SAR operations were conducted but eventually suspended after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the seven crew members was found. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were poor with wind and snow falls. The sea was rough and SAR operations were difficult to conduct.
Crew:
F/Lt R. N. Williams, pilot,
A. K. Passmore, copilot,
Mr. Kirkland, navigator,
Mr. Kennell, navigator,
Mr. Clamp, signaller,
Mr. Noble, flight engineer,
Mr. Johnston, gunner.

While completing a training mission, the pilot encountered controllability problems and decided to abandon the aircraft. While bailing out, the parachute deployed prematurely and the pilot was pulled against the fuselage and the elevators. Out of control, the airplane dove into the ground and crashed in a field, killing the pilot.

The crew was performing a training sortie when the aircraft went into a dive, crossed the cloud layer and crashed onto several uninhabited houses. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all three crew members were killed. Nobody on ground was hurt. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was deviated from the prescribed flight path by 56 miles for undetermined reason.

While flying at an altitude of some 2,000 feet over the Peak District National Park on a flight from Prestwick to Bovingdon, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and low visibility due to heavy snow falls. The twin engine aircraft hit the top of the Black Combe Hill and crash landed in deep snow. Both crew were slightly injured and walked away for few hours to find help. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and abandoned on site.
Crew:
Cpt William J. Daner, pilot,
1st Lt Arthur Garner, copilot.