Dan-Air Flight 240
Encyclopedia
Dan-Air Flight 240 was a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 series 2A turboprop
aircraft flying from Gatwick to East Midlands Airport (EMA) on the first stage of a night mail flight, which crashed near the village of Nailstone
, Leicestershire following major structural failure caused by the failure of a cabin door.
at EMA of 18:25. The crew comprised two pilots plus a cabin attendant; company policy was to carry one attendant (known as a Postal Assistant) on mail flights.
During its initial descent towards its destination, the attendant reported that one of the cabin door's indicators were showing an unlocked condition. Shortly afterwards, the right hand rear door (the baggage door) opened, detached itself from its hinge mounts and lodged on the leading edge of the right horizontal tailplane. Later reconstruction of the aircraft's flight path from flight recorder evidence indicated that cabin decompression occurred when it was in the vicinity of Market Bosworth
.
The aircraft became uncontrollable and went into a steep dive which terminated in several abrupt pitch oscillations. Immediately after the decompression the pilot asked the co-pilot to transmit a "MAYDAY" and requested permission from Air Traffic Control to come straight in for an emergency landing, reporting that he thought he had lost the rear door and that he was having severe control problems.
Shortly after, the radar controller noticed that the aircraft was turning right beyond its assigned heading but attempts to contact it were useless. Approximately 3 minutes after the last distress message, reports began to reach ATC from the police of an aircraft crash.
Several eyewitnesses saw the final moments of the flight. The consensus was that the aircraft was lower than usual for those travelling to EMA and was losing altitude as well as oscillating in both pitch and roll. As it regained level attitude both wings folded up almost simultaneously and became detached from the fuselage along with other pieces of structure.
The wreckage was found scattered across several fields about 1 mi (1.6 km) northeast of the village of Nailstone
.
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
aircraft flying from Gatwick to East Midlands Airport (EMA) on the first stage of a night mail flight, which crashed near the village of Nailstone
Nailstone
Nailstone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, situated to the west of Leicester and north-east of Market Bosworth. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 521....
, Leicestershire following major structural failure caused by the failure of a cabin door.
Accident
The aircraft departed Gatwick at 17:28 with an ETAEstimated time of arrival
The estimated time of arrival or ETA is a measure of when a ship, vehicle, aircraft, cargo, emergency service or computer file is expected to arrive at a certain place...
at EMA of 18:25. The crew comprised two pilots plus a cabin attendant; company policy was to carry one attendant (known as a Postal Assistant) on mail flights.
During its initial descent towards its destination, the attendant reported that one of the cabin door's indicators were showing an unlocked condition. Shortly afterwards, the right hand rear door (the baggage door) opened, detached itself from its hinge mounts and lodged on the leading edge of the right horizontal tailplane. Later reconstruction of the aircraft's flight path from flight recorder evidence indicated that cabin decompression occurred when it was in the vicinity of Market Bosworth
Market Bosworth
Market Bosworth is a small market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It formerly formed a district known as the Market Bosworth Rural District. In 1974 it merged with the Hinckley Rural District to form a new district named Hinckley and Bosworth...
.
The aircraft became uncontrollable and went into a steep dive which terminated in several abrupt pitch oscillations. Immediately after the decompression the pilot asked the co-pilot to transmit a "MAYDAY" and requested permission from Air Traffic Control to come straight in for an emergency landing, reporting that he thought he had lost the rear door and that he was having severe control problems.
Shortly after, the radar controller noticed that the aircraft was turning right beyond its assigned heading but attempts to contact it were useless. Approximately 3 minutes after the last distress message, reports began to reach ATC from the police of an aircraft crash.
Several eyewitnesses saw the final moments of the flight. The consensus was that the aircraft was lower than usual for those travelling to EMA and was losing altitude as well as oscillating in both pitch and roll. As it regained level attitude both wings folded up almost simultaneously and became detached from the fuselage along with other pieces of structure.
The wreckage was found scattered across several fields about 1 mi (1.6 km) northeast of the village of Nailstone
Nailstone
Nailstone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, situated to the west of Leicester and north-east of Market Bosworth. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 521....
.