Knight Air Flight 816, being flown by G-OEAA, an

Embraer 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max H ...

belonging to Knight Air, was an internal (domestic) scheduled flight operating between

Leeds Bradford Leeds Bradford Airport is located in Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about northwest of Leeds city centre, and about northeast from Bradford city centre. It serves Leeds and Bradford and th ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

airports on 24 May 1995, which crashed with the loss of all on board shortly after take-off.

The accident

The aircraft departed Leeds Bradford airport at 16:47 hours UTC departure from runway 14, and was observed immediately to veer off the ATC instructed flight path; one minute and 50 seconds into the flight, the first officer reported problems with the artificial horizons in the plane and asked to return to Leeds Bradford. Local weather was poor with restricted visibility, low cloud, and a recent thunderstorm – 'turbulent instrument meteorological conditions', according to the AAIB, dark and stormy conditions according to residents in the vicinity. The crew, who consisted of Captain John Casson, First Officer Paul Denton, and Flight Attendant Helen Leadbetter experienced significant difficulties maintaining their heading while returning to the airport. The aircraft subsequently entered a left turn, rapidly lost height and crashed at

Dunkeswick Moor Dunkeswick is a hamlet in Harrogate District, North Yorkshire, just north of the River Wharfe, off the A61, around a kilometre north of Harewood and two kilometres south of Kirkby Overblow. Etymology The name of Dunkeswick comes from the Old ...

, north of Harewood,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, six miles north east of the airport. None of the crew or nine passengers survived the crash.

Cause

An Air Accident Investigation Branch report found that one or both artificial horizons in the aircraft failed, leading to loss of control by the pilots and the plane entering a spiral dive exceeding operating parameters and leading to partial break-up before impact.

References

Official accident report
Accidents and incidents involving the Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante Aviation accidents and incidents in 1995 Aviation accidents and incidents in England History of North Yorkshire 1995 in England 1995 disasters in the United Kingdom May 1995 events in the United Kingdom {{England-hist-stub