Fatal Descent Accident at Prestwick (G-AORC)

Incident Overview and Flight Details The accident occurred at 2208 hours during an unscheduled flight from London to Prestwick. The aircraft was operating under a charter arrangement to pick up passengers for BOAC and return them to London. It took off from London Airport at 2042 hours GMT, cruised at 18,500 ft, and began its descent to Prestwick with an initial clearance to 8,500 ft. ## Descent and Impact Shortly after the initial clearance, the flight was amended to cross the Prestwick radio beacon at 4,000 ft. The descent appeared normal to the pilots until the aircraft struck the ground close to the beacon site, shortly after the captain reported passing 11,000 ft in the holding pattern. The aircraft slid along the ground for 400 yards before a fire broke out in the starboard wing. ## Casualties and Damage Of the five crew members aboard, three were seriously injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed by fire. ## Probable Cause The official findings determined that the captain flew the aircraft into the ground during the descent after misreading the altimeter by 10,000 ft. A somewhat ambiguous presentation of height on the pressure altimeter may have initiated this misreading. The main contributory factors were a lack of cooperation between the captain and first officer and a lack of alertness on the part of the first officer.