The 1957 Nutts Corner BEA Viscount crash was a

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

(BEA) flight from London to Belfast that crashed at Nutts Corner Airport on 23 October 1957, killing all seven passengers and crew.Aviation Safety Network G-AOJA accident synopsis
retrieved 23 June 2010.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Vickers Viscount 802, registration G-AOJA, built and delivered to BEA the previous year. It was the first 800 Series Viscount built and was used by the manufacturer

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

for test and promotional flights prior to delivery.''Flight'' 7 September 1956, p. 437.
retrieved 24 June 2010.

Accident

On the afternoon of the accident the aircraft took off from

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...

at 15:16 GMT on a non-scheduled positioning flight to Nutts Corner Airport in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, where it was due to pick up the UK government

Minister of Supply The Minister of Supply was the minister in the British Government responsible for the Ministry of Supply, which existed to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to the national armed forces. The position was campaigned for by many sceptics of the for ...

Aubrey Jones Aubrey Jones (20 November 1911 – 10 April 2003) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hall Green (UK Parliament constituency), Bir ...

and a group of journalists, who had been attending the opening of a research building for Short & Harland Ltd in Belfast. An hour-and-a-half later, with low cloud and rain at Nutts Corner, the aircraft commenced its

approach Approach may refer to: Aviation *Visual approach *Instrument approach *Final approach Music * ''Approach'' (album), by Von Hertzen Brothers * ''The Approach'', an album by I:Scintilla Other uses *Approach Beach, a gazetted beach in Ting Kau, Ho ...

to land from the east on runway 28. As the aircraft neared the runway it veered right of the runway centreline. Less than from the eastern end of the runway the crew carried out a

go-around In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unstab ...

, but the aircraft crashed about to the left of the far end of the runway. The accident killed all five crew and the two passengers (a BEA official and his wife) on board, and the aircraft was destroyed.''Flight'' 1 November 1957, p. 669.''Flight'' 9 May 1958, p. 646.

Investigation and cause

Public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

was convened to investigate the accident, during which it emerged that the airport's approach lighting system may have been switched off at the time of the aircraft's landing attempt.''Flight'' 24 October 1958, p. 674. The inquiry also heard evidence regarding a bent screwdriver that had been found in the wreckage, but as this had been removed by an airport worker before its position in the wreckage had been recorded, the likelihood of the object jamming the flight controls could not be assessed. At the conclusion of the inquiry, while it made recommendations regarding the security of aircraft crash sites and tool control during maintenance, and suggested that records be kept of when airport approach lighting was switched on or off, no official cause of the accident was determined.''Flight'' 18 July 1958, p. 91.

References

* "The Seventeenth S.B.A.C. Display", ''

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 ...

'', 7 September 1956, pp. 429–438
"Belfast Tragedy"
''Flight'', 1 November 1957, p. 669.

''Flight'' 9 May 1958, p. 646.

''Flight'' 18 July 1958, p. 91.

''Flight'' 24 October 1958, p. 674. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nutts Corner BEA Viscount crash Aviation accidents and incidents in 1957 Aviation accidents and incidents in Northern Ireland Accidents and incidents involving the Vickers Viscount 19571023 1957 disasters in the United Kingdom 1957 in Northern Ireland 20th century in Belfast October 1957 events in the United Kingdom