Aircraft Crash at London Airport Involving BEA Tridents (G-AMAD)

Flight and Approach Details The aircraft departed Deauville at 1535 hrs on flight No. C.6845 and completed an uneventful flight to London at flight level 70. It was cleared to land on runway 28 Right and reported passing the outer marker inbound at 1624 hrs. The approach proceeded normally, and the aircraft was observed by air traffic control personnel in the tower when it was about 200 feet and close to the airport boundary, in a normal approach attitude. However, near the threshold of runway 28 Right, the port wing dropped and the aircraft turned slowly to the left off the runway centerline. The bank increased, and the port wing tip, followed by the port main wheels, touched the grass surface of the aerodrome. Witnesses near the runway threshold heard engine power applied as if for an overshoot, and the aircraft became airborne again with the bank further increasing. It flew towards the partly constructed No. I terminal building on the northeast side of the airport central area. While still steeply banked, it struck two British European Airways Trident aircraft parked at a pier of the terminal building and burst into flames. The aircraft then rolled onto its back, demolished a twelve-foot-high metal blast barrier, and came to rest against the ground floor of the terminal building between two embarkation piers. ## Casualties and Damage Twenty-seven people on the ground in the area received slight injuries, and two people were seriously injured. Six occupants were killed, and two others were killed as well as all eight horses. The Trident registered G-ARPT was destroyed, while the Trident registered G-ARPI was repaired.