__NOTOC__ The Transair Douglas Dakota accident was an

aircraft accident An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

that occurred on 19 August 1959, when a Douglas Dakota operated by British airline Transair on a non-scheduled flight from Barcelona Airport in Spain to

London-Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

in the United Kingdom crashed in Spain. The aircraft, which was carrying 29 students home to England, had been chartered by the National Union of Students to conduct regular weekly flights between Gatwick and Barcelona. It was the first accident suffered by a Transair aircraft following the airline's formation in 1947.

Accident

The aircraft, registered G-AMZD, had arrived early on the day of the accident at Barcelona from Gatwick with a party of students on board, and was scheduled to return to London with another group of students who were returning home from a holiday in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

. The flight was conducted under visual flight rules (VFR); however, 19 minutes after departure from Barcelona, while climbing to its cruising altitude, the Dakota entered cloud and struck Turó de l'Home, a mountain north east of Barcelona. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was away from its intended flight path. Locals reported that at the time of the crash it was misty in the area. An official at a nearby weather station raised the alarm upon observing the crash. Upon arrival, the Spanish Civil Guard found the wreckage of the aircraft had been burnt out by a post-impact fire. All 29 passengers and three crew were killed.

Probable cause

Following an investigation of the accident, a report from the Spanish Director-General of Civil Aviation stated: The Director-General also stated that the evidence did not indicate that Spanish Air Traffic Control personnel were responsible for the crash through their actions in any way. In addition, there was no evidence found that any defects in aids to navigation contributed to the accident. Accordingly, the British Air Ministry, also investigating the crash, resolved to close the case without allocating responsibility. It was concluded that the pilot should not have entered cloud without advising air traffic control that he required an instrument flight clearance; it was presumed that the pilot was unaware that Turó de l'Home, in height, was in the path of the aircraft at the time the Dakota entered the clouds.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Transair Douglas Dakota accident Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas C-47 Skytrain Aviation accidents and incidents in 1959 Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Transair (UK) accidents and incidents 1959 in Spain