What happened
On the day of the accident, an aircraft operating as a Royal Mail charter flight from Edinburgh Airport to Belfast arrived at the airport at 00:03. The aircraft was positioned at Stand 31 during a period of light to moderate snowfall. Following preparations for the scheduled flight, the crew received start clearance at 15:03.
At 15:12, the crew notified Air Traffic Control that they were shutting down the engines due to a technical issue, specifically reporting that a generator failed to come online. An avionics technician performed a diagnostic inspection, which included two ground runs of both engines. Because no malfunction was identified during this process, the crew requested taxi clearance at 17:10.
The flight departed from runway 06 and proceeded through a standard takeoff. Upon reaching an altitude of 1,200 feet amsl, the crew reduced power to climb settings. While climbing at 2,200 feet amsl, the crew activated the anti-icing systems. Within three seconds of this activation, the torque on both engines dropped rapidly to zero. The crew issued a MAYDAY call to report the double engine failure. The aircraft subsequently ditched in the Firth of Forth estuary, approximately 100 meters from the shoreline near Granton Harbour. The accident resulted in two fatalities.
Findings
At the time of the incident, the weather conditions featured a temperature of +2°C and a dewpoint of -3°C. Visibility was reported to be greater than 10 km, with broken cloud layers at 4,500 feet and overcast conditions at 8,000 feet.