On 24 June 1956, a

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

(BOAC) four-engined

Canadair C-4 Argonaut The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruisin ...

airliner crashed into a tree on departure from

Kano Airport Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport is an international airport serving Kano, the capital city of Kano State of Nigeria. It was a Royal Air Force station before the country became independent. It is the main airport serving northern Niger ...

in Nigeria, three crew and 29 passengers were killed.

Crash

At 17:21 the Argonaut departed Runway 25 at Kano Airport on the way to Tripoli in Libya. The flight was from Lagos to London and had made a scheduled stop at Kano. It was raining as the aircraft reached when the aircraft began to lose height. The pilot applied full power but the aircraft continued to descend until it hit a tree about from the end of the runway. Three of the seven crew members and 29 of the 38 passengers were killed in the crash, two crew and two passengers were seriously injured.

Investigation

A team from the British Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation and BOAC flew out from London on 25 June in a chartered Canadair Argonaut to help in the investigation. The Nigerian investigation team of four was led by the Director of Civil Aviation.

Inquiry report

The Board of Inquiry concluded "The accident was the result of a loss of height and airspeed caused by the aircraft encountering, at approximately 250ft after take-off, an unpredictable thunderstorm cell which gave rise to a sudden reversal of wind direction, heavy rain, and possible downdraft conditions. The formation of the cell could not have been predicted by the meteorological forecaster at Kano airport, nor was it visible to the pilot in command before taking off. In the circumstances, no blame can be attached to the pilot in command for taking off." The report also recommended that the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sc ...

urgently consider investigating the special hazards to aircraft inherent in taking off or landing in close proximity to thunderstorms.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:BOAC Argonaut accident Accidents and incidents involving the Canadair North Star Airliner accidents and incidents caused by microbursts Aviation accidents and incidents in 1956 Aviation accidents and incidents in Nigeria Canadair C4 1956 1956 in Nigeria 1956 meteorology June 1956 events in Africa 1956 disasters in Nigeria