Flight Details
On the day of the accident, the pilot departed Stapleford on a positioning flight to Southampton. The planned itinerary included picking up passengers at Southampton, then flying to Cambridge to collect additional passengers, and finally continuing to Berlin. The aircraft, registration G-SEAS, was in contact with Heathrow Approach frequency. At 0653 local time, G-SEAS was identified and cleared direct to Ockham not above 2,000 feet on QNH 1011 mb. The pilot acknowledged this clearance.
Radar Data
Radar recordings confirmed the track of flight STL819 to Ockham. From there, the aircraft made a gentle turn onto a southerly track of approximately 185° true. All three radars indicated the aircraft's speed as approximately 160 knots at a level altitude of 1,500 feet above mean sea level until a few seconds before 0705 local time. At that point, the aircraft started a high rate of descent with increasing speed while maintaining a fairly constant southerly track. Radar contact was lost 2.6 seconds after 0705. The last radar contact was within 250 meters of the crash site, with the aircraft at 1,000 feet above mean sea level. The crash site itself is approximately 400 feet above mean sea level.
Investigation Findings
The official investigation was unable to determine the exact cause of the accident. Nevertheless, the assumption that the loss of control was the consequence of an autopilot failure was not ruled out.