1961 Derby Aviation crash
Encyclopedia
The 1961 Derby Aviation crash refers to the fatal crash of a Douglas Dakota IV, registration G-AMSW, operated by Derby Aviation, a subsidiary of British Midland Airways
, on the mountain of Canigou
, France
, on 7 October 1961. All 34 on board (31 passengers, pilot, co-pilot and stewardess) were killed.
at 20:43 UTC on 6 October 1961 destined for Perpignan in the south of France, just north of the Pyrenees
. At 00:30 UTC, it reported overhead Toulouse
at flight level
75 and estimated arrival at Perpignan at 01:12 UTC. In an area of intermittent rain and winds of variable force, it struck the side of Le Canigou at an altitude of 7500 ft (2200 m).
A rescue team from the chalet at Courtalets arrived at the scene while pieces of the wreckage were still burning. An eyewitness described the scene as "apocalyptic; burned bodies lay on the ground in a 100 m radius around the wreckage."
. It was registered to Derby Aviation on 31 December 1958.
The French inquiry found that the aircraft was flying at a height "below the safety altitude obtained from the correct application to the
Toulouse - Perpignan route of the general instructions contained in the operations manual of Derby Aviation." The charts that may
have been on board the aircraft, says the report, could have led to the calculation, on account of lack of uniformity in the heights
presented, of differing safety altitudes. "It is not possible, however," said the report, "to establish what charts were effectively used by the crew; in fact the airline has not fixed the type of chart to be used by the pilot for the purpose of applying the formula specified in the operations manual." The report noted that the flight plan was not completed in accordance with French regulations,
which were based on ICAO recommendations. The filed plan had specified only the point of departure, the en-route beacon at Dunsfold and the destination. According to French regulations it was mandatory to indicate the points at which airways
were crossed and the points at which Flight Information Region
boundaries were crossed, and if necessary certain radio fixes should have been indicated, The report noted that, "as opposed to the British regulations, the French regulations require the filing of a flight plan when the flight is to be made in Instrument Flight Rules
."
The report found no particular meteorological phenomenon of exceptional intensity, though the weather was very cloudy. The only meteorological factor which could have affected the flight would have been the WNW direction of the wind on the second half of the route (from Limoges to Perpignan) giving a tail wind instead of the forecast wind from starboard, causing port drift.
The route chosen by the pilot was Limoges - Toulouse - Perpignan. Once it had passed Toulouse, the aircraft took a heading with the intention of flying directly to Perpignan without flying over Carcassonne
. The inquiry thought it was probable that the crew relied on dead reckoning rather than radio compass. If so, they would have calculated the course by using the forecast wind (240°/25kt), which would have given a drift to port of 10°. If the actual wind was in fact 290°/ 25kt (therefore causing no drift), then the course would have become the effective track (137° true). If parallel lines are drawn through Toulouse and through the place of the accident on a bearing of 137° they are found to be about 8.5 km apart. In consequence, in order to intercept the track leading to the place of the accident, the minimum error in relation to a position over Toulouse would have been a passage by the aircraft of about 6.5 km to the west of Toulouse followed by the assumption of a heading (137° true) 75sec later. Although this reconstruction, says the report, seems to offer a perfectly acceptable solution in the absence of evidence to the contrary, including precise information of the kind which could be provided by a flight recorder, the commission could not consider it as definitive.
The captain of the aircraft, Capt Michael E. Higgins, had 5,624hr and had landed twice at Perpignan during the preceding six months, though after following the direct route Limoges - Perpignan. The co-pilot, 1st Officer Rex Hailstone (2,267hr) had made five landings at Perpignan in the previous six months, though not on routes via Toulouse.
article reported
The article continued:
Bmi (airline)
British Midland Airways Limited , is an airline based at Donington Hall in Castle Donington in the United Kingdom, close to East Midlands Airport, and a fully owned subsidiary of Lufthansa...
, on the mountain of Canigou
Canigou
The Canigou is a mountain located in the Catalan Pyrenees of southern France.Due to its sharp flanks and its dramatic location close to the coast, until the 18th century the Canigou was believed to be the highest mountain in the Pyrenees.-Trekking and sightseeing:Spectacular jeep tracks on the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, on 7 October 1961. All 34 on board (31 passengers, pilot, co-pilot and stewardess) were killed.
History of the flight
The flight left London GatwickLondon Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
at 20:43 UTC on 6 October 1961 destined for Perpignan in the south of France, just north of the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. At 00:30 UTC, it reported overhead Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
at flight level
Flight level
A Flight Level is a standard nominal altitude of an aircraft, in hundreds of feet. This altitude is calculated from the International standard pressure datum of 1013.25 hPa , the average sea-level pressure, and therefore is not necessarily the same as the aircraft's true altitude either...
75 and estimated arrival at Perpignan at 01:12 UTC. In an area of intermittent rain and winds of variable force, it struck the side of Le Canigou at an altitude of 7500 ft (2200 m).
A rescue team from the chalet at Courtalets arrived at the scene while pieces of the wreckage were still burning. An eyewitness described the scene as "apocalyptic; burned bodies lay on the ground in a 100 m radius around the wreckage."
The aircraft
G-AMSW was Douglas Dakota 4, construction number 16171, built in 1944. It had originally been built for the USAAF (tail no. 44-76587). In 1952, it was registered to Air Service Training Limited and in 1954 to Cambrian AirwaysCambrian Airways
Cambrian Airways was a Welsh airline based in Cardiff, Wales, which started operations in 1935. It was incorporated into British Airways in 1976.-Company history:...
. It was registered to Derby Aviation on 31 December 1958.
Cause
Speculation as to the cause at one time suggested that the crash may have been due to disruption to compasses cused by the magnetic field associated with iron mines. However, the official inquiry concluded that "the accident was attributed to navigational error, the origin of which it was not possible to determine for lack of sufficient evidence.The French inquiry found that the aircraft was flying at a height "below the safety altitude obtained from the correct application to the
Toulouse - Perpignan route of the general instructions contained in the operations manual of Derby Aviation." The charts that may
have been on board the aircraft, says the report, could have led to the calculation, on account of lack of uniformity in the heights
presented, of differing safety altitudes. "It is not possible, however," said the report, "to establish what charts were effectively used by the crew; in fact the airline has not fixed the type of chart to be used by the pilot for the purpose of applying the formula specified in the operations manual." The report noted that the flight plan was not completed in accordance with French regulations,
which were based on ICAO recommendations. The filed plan had specified only the point of departure, the en-route beacon at Dunsfold and the destination. According to French regulations it was mandatory to indicate the points at which airways
were crossed and the points at which Flight Information Region
Flight Information Region
In aviation a flight information region is a region of airspace with specific dimensions, in which a flight information service and an alerting service are provided. It is the largest regular division of airspace in use in the world today....
boundaries were crossed, and if necessary certain radio fixes should have been indicated, The report noted that, "as opposed to the British regulations, the French regulations require the filing of a flight plan when the flight is to be made in Instrument Flight Rules
Instrument flight rules
Instrument flight rules are one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other are visual flight rules ....
."
The report found no particular meteorological phenomenon of exceptional intensity, though the weather was very cloudy. The only meteorological factor which could have affected the flight would have been the WNW direction of the wind on the second half of the route (from Limoges to Perpignan) giving a tail wind instead of the forecast wind from starboard, causing port drift.
The route chosen by the pilot was Limoges - Toulouse - Perpignan. Once it had passed Toulouse, the aircraft took a heading with the intention of flying directly to Perpignan without flying over Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
. The inquiry thought it was probable that the crew relied on dead reckoning rather than radio compass. If so, they would have calculated the course by using the forecast wind (240°/25kt), which would have given a drift to port of 10°. If the actual wind was in fact 290°/ 25kt (therefore causing no drift), then the course would have become the effective track (137° true). If parallel lines are drawn through Toulouse and through the place of the accident on a bearing of 137° they are found to be about 8.5 km apart. In consequence, in order to intercept the track leading to the place of the accident, the minimum error in relation to a position over Toulouse would have been a passage by the aircraft of about 6.5 km to the west of Toulouse followed by the assumption of a heading (137° true) 75sec later. Although this reconstruction, says the report, seems to offer a perfectly acceptable solution in the absence of evidence to the contrary, including precise information of the kind which could be provided by a flight recorder, the commission could not consider it as definitive.
The captain of the aircraft, Capt Michael E. Higgins, had 5,624hr and had landed twice at Perpignan during the preceding six months, though after following the direct route Limoges - Perpignan. The co-pilot, 1st Officer Rex Hailstone (2,267hr) had made five landings at Perpignan in the previous six months, though not on routes via Toulouse.
Later crashes in the area
Following further accidents in the area, in 1967 a Flight InternationalFlight International
Flight International is a global aerospace weekly publication produced in the UK. Founded in 1909, it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine...
article reported
IN A STATEMENT in the House of Commons on June 5 about the accidents to the Air FerryAir Ferry LimitedAir Ferry Limited was a private, independent British airline operating charter, scheduled and all-cargo flights from 1963 to 1968.-History:Wg Cdr Hugh Kennard, the Air Kruise founder and a former Silver City Airways director, and Leroy Tours founder Lewis Leroy formed Air Ferry Ltd in 1961 as a...
DC-4C-54 SkymasterThe Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces and British forces in World War II and the Korean War. Besides transport of cargo, it also carried presidents, British heads of government, and military staff...
at Perpignan on June 3 and to the British Midland DC-4M ArgonautArgonautArgonaut may refer to:* Argonaut , a kind of octopus in the genus Argonauta* Jason and the Argonauts, sailors in Greek mythology* Argonauts of Saint Nicholas, a military order in Naples...
at StockportStockportStockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
on June 4 (see last week's issue, page 926), Mr Douglas Jay, President of the Board of Trade, said that he had given instructions for a "special review of the performance" of all operators of British-registered civil aircraft. He also said that there would be a public inquiry into the Stockport accidentStockport Air DisasterThe Stockport Air Disaster was the crash of a Canadair C-4 Argonaut aircraft owned by British Midland Airways, registration G-ALHG, near the centre of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England on Sunday 4 June 1967. 72 of the 84 aboard were killed in the accident. Of the 12 survivors, all were...
. The Perpignan accident will, as required by international agreement, be investigated by the French authorities with British representatives and advisers in attendance.
The article continued:
The case of the Perpignan accident is particularly important in relation to navigation aids and their use in areas of dangerous terrain. Since 1949 there have been at least nine crashes on or near Mt Canigou on the Franco-Spanish border: December 1950, Air Maroc DC-3 (three killed); February 1953, Nord Adas (six); March 1955, C-47 (five); July 1957, Nord 2051 (ten); September 1958, French Air Force Broussard (five); October 7, 1961, Derby Aviation DC-3 (34); January 11, 1963, French Air Force ConstellationLockheed ConstellationThe Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...
(12); September 11, 1963, Airnautic VikingVickers VC.1 VikingThe Vickers VC.1 Viking was a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Viking was an important airliner with British airlines...
(40); and June 3, 1967 Air Ferry DC-4 (88).
Further reading
- Civil Aircraft Accident, Report of Accident to Dakota G-AMSW near Mount Canigou, Pyrenees, on October 7, 1961. CAP.M9. London, HM Stationery Office, 1962.
- ICAO Digest 13 (Circular 69)