Incident Overview
On the morning of 30 April 1990, a Shackleton AEW2 aircraft, registration WR965, departed from RAF Lossiemouth for a maritime exercise in the Benbecula area west of mainland Scotland. The sortie was planned in two parts with an interval between; the crew intended to use the time for continuation training, for which they had authorization. Weather forecasts indicated generally clear conditions in the operating area, though there were areas of low cloud and poor visibility over Scottish coastal regions.
Sequence of Events
The first segment of the mission proceeded without incident. At 09:45 UTC, the crew engaged in mutual training with a Tornado F3, requiring the Shackleton's radar to be set to standby or off. After completing this, the crew began their continuation training, which included a visual approach to Benbecula airfield. At 10:25 UTC, the crew contacted Benbecula Air Traffic Control (ATC), requesting approach permission and reporting their position as approximately 20 miles west of the airfield. Permission was granted and ATC relayed the current weather at Benbecula to the crew.
However, subsequent investigation revealed that the aircraft's actual position at that time was 15 miles north of the reported location. At 10:30, two RAF personnel observed the Shackleton orbiting an island approximately 12 miles north of Benbecula airfield. At 10:34, the crew called Benbecula ATC, stating that the weather was not sufficiently good for an approach and that they were turning right and climbing. At around 10:37, the aircraft struck the ground about 30 feet below the summit of an 823-foot hill on the Isle of Harris.
Evidence and Findings
Reliable evidence indicated that at the time and location of the accident, the cloudbase was 200 feet above mean sea level with cloud tops at 3000 feet. At impact, the aircraft was in controlled flight with all four engines developing cruise power. The crew were from 28 Squadron: W/Cdr Stephen Roncoroni, W/Cdr Chas Wrighton, F/O Colin Burns, S/L Jerry Lane, F/Lt Al Campbell, F/Lt Keith Forbes, M/O Roger Scutt, F/Sgt Rick Ricketts, Sgt Graham Miller, and Cpl Stuart Bolton.
Probable Cause
The Board of Inquiry concluded that the accident was caused because the aircraft was flown below a safe altitude in unsuitable weather conditions; the Board were unable to determine the reason for this.