Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 6 May 1962 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
Site |
St Boniface Down,
Isle of Wight, United Kingdom 50°36′10″N 1°11′52″W / 50.6027°N 1.1977°W |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Douglas C-47A Dakota |
Operator | East Anglian Flying Services trading as Channel Airways |
Registration | G-AGZB |
Flight origin | Jersey Airport, Jersey, Channel Islands |
Destination | Portsmouth Airport, Portsmouth, England |
Passengers | 15 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 12 |
Survivors | 6 |
The 1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident occurred on 6 May 1962 when a Channel Airways [N 1] Douglas C-47A Dakota, registered G-AGZB and operating a scheduled passenger flight from Jersey to Portsmouth, collided with a cloud-covered hill at St Boniface Down, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. The aircraft had previously been owned by British European Airways, and was named "Robert Smith-Barry". The aircraft was destroyed, and twelve of the eighteen occupants were killed (all three crew members and nine out of 15 passengers, including three infants). [1] [2] [3]
The Dakota was on a scheduled flight from Jersey to Southend with a stop at Portsmouth. There were 15 passengers aboard. [1] [4] With low cloud and drizzle in the Portsmouth/Isle of Wight area, the aircraft notified the controller that they were descending from 3,000 to 1,000 feet. [1] [4] The aircraft was seen flying low over Ventnor just before it crashed, fifty feet below the summit of St Boniface Down and close to a disused Royal Air Force radar site. [1] [2] The aircraft bounced and smashed through a ten-foot high perimeter fence of the radar site and burst into flames. Both pilots and eight of the passengers were killed instantly. [2]
The first man on the scene, a farm worker, helped two badly burned girls from the wreckage. After leading two other men to safety, he ran up the road to find help. There he found a group of seven amateur radio operators broadcasting as G3GWB/p [5] who were taking part in a competition. [2] The radiomen alerted another amateur radio operator in Southampton (G3NIM in Netley), who contacted the emergency services. [2] The seven injured were taken to local hospitals at Ryde and Newport; two of them, a stewardess and a passenger, subsequently died. [2]
A coroner's inquest was opened and then adjourned for two months on the Isle of Wight on 8 May. [6] The Channel Airways chief pilot said it was the company's first fatal accident in 17 years of operation. [6] The coroner paid tribute to those who took part in the rescue operation, and in particular Edward Price, the farmworker who was first on the scene. [6]
The probable cause of the accident was flying below a safe altitude in cloudy, rainy weather. [1]