What happened
On the afternoon of the accident, an aircraft departed from Glasgow Airport at 14:22 local time to perform a post-maintenance test flight. The flight crew consisted of two pilots and two engineers. During the mission, the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 4,000 feet and proceeded north under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). After roughly seven and a half minutes of flight, the captain requested permission to return to the Glasgow Control Zone.
Shortly after this request, while navigating through snow showers and poor visibility, the aircraft type struck the side of Mt Ben More at an elevation of 3,852 feet. The impact caused the plane to disintegrate. There were four fatalities among the crew and engineers on board.
Findings
The investigation concluded that the aircraft collided with a mountain peak while operating over high, snow-covered terrain in marginal weather conditions. Several contributing factors were identified:
- The pilot had obtained some weather data previously but did not consult the Duty Forecaster, which likely meant they were unaware of significant winds at their flight level.
- While flying at 3,800 feet (FL 40) was permitted for VFR operations despite higher sector and airline minimum altitudes, the decision to fly under VFR in such weather was problematic.
- Navigating via map reading was made difficult by the snow-covered landscape and low visibility.
- The crew may have been distracted by the technical requirements of the flight engineering test program.
Ultimately, the accident likely occurred because the aircraft entered whiteout conditions during a snow shower, leading to the collision.