The 1912 Brooklands Flanders Monoplane crash was the first aviation accident in which an investigation was made into the cause of the accident and a report subsequently published, thus marking the start of aviation accident investigation worldwide. A Flanders F.3 Monoplane crashed at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, United Kingdom, killing the pilot and his passenger. The cause was determined to be

pilot error Pilot error generally refers to an Aviation accidents and incidents, accident in which an action or decision made by the Aircraft pilot#Airline, pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pi ...

Aircraft

The accident aircraft was a Flanders F.3 Monoplane. It was powered by a

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

D.4 engine.

Accident

On 13 May 1912, the aircraft took off from

Brooklands Aerodrome Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields ...

with the pilot and a passenger on board. Two circuits of the aerodrome were flown before the aircraft was seen to side-slip, stall and crash from an altitude of . The pilot was thrown clear, but the passenger remained in the wrecked aircraft, which caught fire. Both were killed. The aircraft had been flying in a tail-low attitude before the turn was initiated. The accident was witnessed by a crowd of about 200 people. A

Coroner's inquest A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

was held in

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

. The jury returned verdicts of "accidental death" in both cases.

Investigation

The accident was investigated by the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee of the

Royal Aero Club The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910. History The Aero Club was foun ...

. The committee had been established on 27 February 1912. The cause was determined to be

. The committee published its report on 4 June 1912 and recommended that the main committee of the Royal Aero Club publish the report ''

in extenso IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

''. Thus the first report into an aviation accident was published in ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'' on 8 June, marking the start of the science of aviation accident investigation. The report established a format of facts, analysis, conclusions and recommendations that is still in use a century later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooklands Flanders Monoplane crash Brooklands Aviation accidents and incidents in England Aviation accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Aviation accidents and incidents in 1912 1912 in the United Kingdom

Aircraft

Accident

Investigation

See also

References