1963 BAC One-Eleven test crash
Encyclopedia
The accident happened on the 22 October 1963 when a BAC One-Eleven
(registration G-ASHG) took off from Wisley Airfield
. There were seven crew on board the aircraft, the pilot was Mike Lithgow
. The BAC One-Eleven was on a test flight to see how the aircraft assess stability and handling characteristics during the approach to, and recovery from the stall with a centre of gravity in varying positions. The aircraft was on its fifth stalling test. Then the flight crew put the BAC One-Eleven at a height of about 16000 feet and with 8 deg of flaps, the plane entered a stable stall. The aircraft began to descend at a high vertical speed, and in a substantially horizontal attitude and eventually struck the ground with very little forward speed. The aircraft broke up and caught fire, killing all seven crew on board. The crash site was near Chicklade
, a small village in Wiltshire
and near the A303 road
.
BAC One-Eleven
The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111, BAC-1-11 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s...
(registration G-ASHG) took off from Wisley Airfield
Wisley Airfield
-History:Built in 1944, the airfield was built for the flight testing of aircraft built at Vickers aircraft factory at the nearby Brooklands. New aircraft types making their first flights from Wisley included the Vickers VC.1 Viking, Valetta, Varsity, Viscount and Valiant...
. There were seven crew on board the aircraft, the pilot was Mike Lithgow
Mike Lithgow
Michael John "Mike" Lithgow, OBE was a British aviator and chief test pilot for Vickers Supermarine. He became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift but died when the prototype BAC One-Eleven airliner crashed in 1963.- Second World War :Joined Fleet...
. The BAC One-Eleven was on a test flight to see how the aircraft assess stability and handling characteristics during the approach to, and recovery from the stall with a centre of gravity in varying positions. The aircraft was on its fifth stalling test. Then the flight crew put the BAC One-Eleven at a height of about 16000 feet and with 8 deg of flaps, the plane entered a stable stall. The aircraft began to descend at a high vertical speed, and in a substantially horizontal attitude and eventually struck the ground with very little forward speed. The aircraft broke up and caught fire, killing all seven crew on board. The crash site was near Chicklade
Chicklade
Chicklade is a small village in the County of Wiltshire, in the south west of England.-History:Chicklade is centred on its medieval parish church.Parish registers survive from 1722 and are kept in the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives....
, a small village in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
and near the A303 road
A303 road
The A303 is a 92-mile long trunk road in England. It is the main road between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon. The M3, the A303 and the A30 together make up one of the main routes from London to South West England, running from London to Land's End in Cornwall...
.
Cause
The cause of the accident was during a stalling test the aircraft entered a stable stalled conditions, recovery from which was impossible. This was the first accident to be attributed to the phenomeon known as deep stall.External links
- http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19631022-0
- http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1963/1963-51.htm
- http://news.google.co.uk/newspapers?id=o0ghAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5n8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=727,3991663&dq=plane+crash+in+england&hl=en
- http://www.baaa-acro.com/photos/BAc111-BAC-Bournemouth.jpg