I was at school near Twickenham. If the accident happened on a Sunday then why do I clearly remember our headmistress coming in, and interrupting our class by asking my unfortunate friend to leave his desk and come with her? It turned out that his Father had been on board.
By 1972, the Trident 1s were nearing the end of their short lives. (scrapping started in 1974) for all but 'PH and 'PK I think. They were replaced by the Trident 2 and 3 which had a better performance. By 1973, production and orders had dried up anyway, so adverse publicity from 'Papa India' would probably not have made a huge difference to orders anyway. The Trident was not a popular aircraft, but this was not connected to 'Papa India's accident. They all had very short flying carrears.
Terrible tragidy. There are striking similarities between what happened to Trident G-ARPI and the prototype BAC One-Eleven, G-ASHG, After entering a deep stall (caused on G-ARPI by slat retraction at too slower speed), The One Eleven decended flat at 10,000 feet per minute with full power selected, and when it hit the ground it moved forward less than half its own length. The Trident 1 was 'very' dependent on high lift devices to overcome its lack of engine performance.
I was on the roundabout by the Crooked Billet pub when the plane crashed. We saw it take off part of the resturant roof and just float down , silently , just a few feet over the top of the car in front of us - it was totally silent. It went over the bank and out of sight. Seconds later there was a sound like a thunder clap. There was no explosion. I still have a fear of flying
I was at this crash as on duty with the Heathrow fire service. At 1.55 you will see a gap in the big hedge(onlookers) we crashed through & down a ditch to get into that field with our appliances.We all knew of the crash but delays were caused by vehicle onlookers. The fire was caused by cutting gear but was soon out, no probs.The report may have been over who should have been sitting up front with the Captain.? Outside this field vans were selling hot dogs and ice cream...it was a sad day.
THERE is a rumour I've read on the internet - so take it with a pinch of salt - that parts of the accident report by the AAIB have been classified under the '50 year rule'. Anyone know if there's any truth to this?
@bywestonbay: Firstly, there is no "50 year rule". They changed it in 1967 to a "30 year rule". The "Lane Report" doesn't mention any deleted or witheld files. Bureaucracy would mean that they would have to at least detail that the released version was "censored". The AIB didn't do an independent inquiry & report in this case because it was working as part of the wider public inquiry. If something was witheld for whatever reason then the report would indicate this and it does not.
@digglyda Thanks for updating me on that. Y'know I searched in vain for '50-year-rule' without success. It was from a comment left on the BBC's 'On This Day' website for 18 June 1972.
my father was a Trident Captain i[Captain William Jackson] in 1972 and took off a few minutes before the fatal staines crash. We waited anxiously at home for news unsure whether it was his flight that had crashed. A very sad day indeed.. God rest all the souls who perished so tragically.
it was said that people went and stole money from bags..an eleven year old girl was alive but died soon after medics got to her..the traffic caused by people wanting to view the wreckage prevented ambulances getting through...very sad
@scorgie9 There's another angle to that story: that people couldn't leave the area because the police closed off some of the roads meaning they were actually stuck in the Staines area with nowhere to go.
@scorgie9 i remember it happening and it was on the news about the people taking money from the bags and the traffic caused by people stopping to look...
disgraceful to see the guy with the placard...religious nutter....and to see the locals gawping whilst leaving a dead passenger uncovered...no wonder I never liked Staines !!!!
I arrived at the scene about a minute after the crash. I was driving back to London with friends from Ascot. One of them said "what was that?", said he heard a dull thump. We saw people running across the road and prepared ourselves to see an accident. Little did we know what we'd find a few seconds later. We ran into the field, a man ran towards us saying get back, there's jet fuel everywhere. We got out of everyone's way and as we left all the ambulances and fire engines started to arrive.
Located at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum, Farnborough airport is a nose section from a Trident (3B-101) G-AWZI. Inside the flight deck is complete and the museum staff can demonstrate the stick shaker and engine stall warning horn. Well worth a visit. Open every weekend 1000-1600 and entrance is free.
Keys was a WW2 pilot who saw combat and came from a different world than the younger, civvy pilots who did not have any military background. He had 15,000 flying hours logged - 4,000 of them as a Trident Captain. He regarded the looming strike by BEA staff as very unprofessional and apparently had a furious argument with a younger co-pilot before flight 548 took off. The poisoned atmosphere in the cockpit sealed the fate of all onboard before they plane even left the ground. Tragic.
To follow up- I think a little too much emphasis has been placed on the personal character attributes of Capt. Key. It almost suggests he was to blame simply because he was 'abrupt' with the other crew members. The fact is we don't know as BEA had yet to install CVR's in their fleet. And remember the video never mentions the possibility of Key's incapacitation at a crucial point in the flight due to heart rupture- something that was only picked up on after an autopsy.
@mcwolfus You can say 'clusterfuck' - we're all grownups here. It's true though, an accident like this is usually the result of a sequence of events which, on their own, would not have caused this tragedy but when brought together obviously did.
BTW there is also a rumour, unsubstantiated, that parts of the AAIB report on this incident have been locked away under the '50 year rule' meaning we may not know the full truth until 2022.
@bywestonbay I wonder what may have been held back from the report. Maybe that the Keys was pissed! It's possible, there would be no point in a fact like that being made public. We will see.
@mcwolfus: He wasn't pissed. The report was not suppressed, censored or witheld. Go to wiki entry for "BEA flight 548" and you can d/l a copy of it on pdf.
@digglyda I never said it was, I have heard other say it,. Didnt his Daughter in her greif suggest that the report was under the X number of years rule? I dont think there was any mystery, I didnt mean to give that impression. The world is quite mudane. Its funny that as a small boy I dont remember the crash at all-this stuff used to fascinate me, and still does. Thanks for reply anyway.
@mcwolfus: I was only about 1 year old back then but went past the crash location a number of times as a kid. If you use the map on wiki you can find the exact spot quite easily on Google Earth. The fact that there was so much initial confusion about the crash is really bizarre and I thought so even when my dad pointed out the location to me back then. It's right by a main road (A30) and the town (Staines). It's spooky that such an aircraft could come down there almost unnoticed.
@bywestonbay The '50 year' rule was reduced to 30 years in 1967. Therefore any confidential papers protected under this rule would have been published in 2005. Why would the government want to protect anything portaining to this accident anyway? I don't really get why they'd be that interested, except perhaps to protect the reputation of an airline that was already blighted with constant strike action, pay disputes etc. All sounds pretty familiar!
@tjf4375 I've been corrected about the '50 year rule' and yeah, you're probably right. I mean BEA was in deep shit at the time and sales of the Trident weren't going well, especially with Boeing entering the market with the 727. I was suspecting that parts of the AAIB report were hushed up in order to hide some critical flaw in the Trident's design. Stilll can't get the incident out of my head though - probably because the absence of a CVR means we'll never know what happened on the flightdeck.
@bywestonbay I agree with you there, it is one of those haunting tragedies with lots of unanswered questions. You also make a good point about the Trident actually - it's a credible possibility that they'd want to protect the Trident franchise I guess, especially after all of the problems with the DH Comet. Now I think of it, there are similar theories suggesting that the French Government withheld information about the Habsheim incident, to protect the A320 programme but who knows eh! :)
I've had an interest in this tragedy for many years now- mainly from reading the book by Stanley Stewart (interviewed). I visited the crash site about 20 years ago and it was, and I believe still is, just a small field surrounded by trees right next to the Staines bypass. I was 5 at the time tho' I don't remember it myself. Unless proven otherwise I still think it was Capt. Key's sudden incapacitation at a crucial point in the flight and the FO's inexperience which contributed to this incident.
Labour unions with their Machiavellian tactics ultimately caused this disaster.
BEA pilots were divided over whether or not to strike. Captain Key was opposed to strike action. Some of the younger "hotheads" resented his views. He resented them. Disaster.
I think one of the most shocking aspects of this incident was ice cream vans arriving to cater for the sightseers!
It was said that traffic was so gridlocked in the area by hundreds of people coming to view the scene, that ambulances were unable to get through without great difficulty.
@Cool2BCeltic Sadly so mate, there is a picture in a book somewhere of an ice-cream van with a queue about 3 or 4 deep and fathers with kids on their shoulders.....all watching the disaster, Madness eh?
Gosh, awful... I saw people brought their kids to "look" at the crash site. Why on earth would you do that? I'm sure hundreds of people drive past this crash site every day and have no idea over a hundred people died just meters from the A30.
The Survivor Trident Of British Airways (G-arpo)'s dead sister.
TheAmessz 3 months ago
2:02 I hope that religious fanatic got arrested. It's sickening how this terribel thing attracted weirdos.
Cool2BCeltic 3 months ago
20100565. The tv series is called Black Box, it came out during the mid 1990's.
awlcvl 4 months ago
can anyone tell me where this video came from? was it a documentary?
20100565 5 months ago
I was at school near Twickenham. If the accident happened on a Sunday then why do I clearly remember our headmistress coming in, and interrupting our class by asking my unfortunate friend to leave his desk and come with her? It turned out that his Father had been on board.
chanctonbury63 6 months ago
all those passers by gawping for a look! unbelievable!!
0586730O2 10 months ago
By 1972, the Trident 1s were nearing the end of their short lives. (scrapping started in 1974) for all but 'PH and 'PK I think. They were replaced by the Trident 2 and 3 which had a better performance. By 1973, production and orders had dried up anyway, so adverse publicity from 'Papa India' would probably not have made a huge difference to orders anyway. The Trident was not a popular aircraft, but this was not connected to 'Papa India's accident. They all had very short flying carrears.
targatop1 10 months ago
Terrible tragidy. There are striking similarities between what happened to Trident G-ARPI and the prototype BAC One-Eleven, G-ASHG, After entering a deep stall (caused on G-ARPI by slat retraction at too slower speed), The One Eleven decended flat at 10,000 feet per minute with full power selected, and when it hit the ground it moved forward less than half its own length. The Trident 1 was 'very' dependent on high lift devices to overcome its lack of engine performance.
targatop1 10 months ago
I was on the roundabout by the Crooked Billet pub when the plane crashed. We saw it take off part of the resturant roof and just float down , silently , just a few feet over the top of the car in front of us - it was totally silent. It went over the bank and out of sight. Seconds later there was a sound like a thunder clap. There was no explosion. I still have a fear of flying
AlexPattersonRulz 1 year ago
@AlexPattersonRulz The plane didn't strike any buildings as it came down - it tracked over the reservoir just to the north of the Staines Bypass.
And how could you have seen the incident when, on your profile, you say you're 19?
bywestonbay 1 year ago
I was at this crash as on duty with the Heathrow fire service. At 1.55 you will see a gap in the big hedge(onlookers) we crashed through & down a ditch to get into that field with our appliances.We all knew of the crash but delays were caused by vehicle onlookers. The fire was caused by cutting gear but was soon out, no probs.The report may have been over who should have been sitting up front with the Captain.? Outside this field vans were selling hot dogs and ice cream...it was a sad day.
blocko44 1 year ago
THERE is a rumour I've read on the internet - so take it with a pinch of salt - that parts of the accident report by the AAIB have been classified under the '50 year rule'. Anyone know if there's any truth to this?
bywestonbay 1 year ago
@bywestonbay: Firstly, there is no "50 year rule". They changed it in 1967 to a "30 year rule". The "Lane Report" doesn't mention any deleted or witheld files. Bureaucracy would mean that they would have to at least detail that the released version was "censored". The AIB didn't do an independent inquiry & report in this case because it was working as part of the wider public inquiry. If something was witheld for whatever reason then the report would indicate this and it does not.
digglyda 1 year ago
@digglyda Thanks for updating me on that. Y'know I searched in vain for '50-year-rule' without success. It was from a comment left on the BBC's 'On This Day' website for 18 June 1972.
bywestonbay 1 year ago
I wonder if ther would have been any survivors if it had landed in the drink. Awful accident. RIP
mcwolfus 1 year ago
my father was a Trident Captain i[Captain William Jackson] in 1972 and took off a few minutes before the fatal staines crash. We waited anxiously at home for news unsure whether it was his flight that had crashed. A very sad day indeed.. God rest all the souls who perished so tragically.
warrenhouse100 1 year ago
Does having a plane crash go 'almost unnoticed' in Staines says something about the place?
ChorltonBrook 1 year ago
it was said that people went and stole money from bags..an eleven year old girl was alive but died soon after medics got to her..the traffic caused by people wanting to view the wreckage prevented ambulances getting through...very sad
scorgie9 1 year ago
@scorgie9 There's another angle to that story: that people couldn't leave the area because the police closed off some of the roads meaning they were actually stuck in the Staines area with nowhere to go.
bywestonbay 1 year ago
@scorgie9 i remember it happening and it was on the news about the people taking money from the bags and the traffic caused by people stopping to look...
ellie11000 1 year ago
disgraceful to see the guy with the placard...religious nutter....and to see the locals gawping whilst leaving a dead passenger uncovered...no wonder I never liked Staines !!!!
macbrack04 1 year ago
@macbrack04 Staines? Shit hole.lol
mcwolfus 1 year ago
I arrived at the scene about a minute after the crash. I was driving back to London with friends from Ascot. One of them said "what was that?", said he heard a dull thump. We saw people running across the road and prepared ourselves to see an accident. Little did we know what we'd find a few seconds later. We ran into the field, a man ran towards us saying get back, there's jet fuel everywhere. We got out of everyone's way and as we left all the ambulances and fire engines started to arrive.
planetalk 1 year ago
so where is the rest of the video WTF?
sonofakbar 1 year ago
@sonofakbar Its on Utube, Ive seen it.
mcwolfus 1 year ago
Located at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum, Farnborough airport is a nose section from a Trident (3B-101) G-AWZI. Inside the flight deck is complete and the museum staff can demonstrate the stick shaker and engine stall warning horn. Well worth a visit. Open every weekend 1000-1600 and entrance is free.
awlcvl 1 year ago
Keys was a WW2 pilot who saw combat and came from a different world than the younger, civvy pilots who did not have any military background. He had 15,000 flying hours logged - 4,000 of them as a Trident Captain. He regarded the looming strike by BEA staff as very unprofessional and apparently had a furious argument with a younger co-pilot before flight 548 took off. The poisoned atmosphere in the cockpit sealed the fate of all onboard before they plane even left the ground. Tragic.
bgibb101 1 year ago
To follow up- I think a little too much emphasis has been placed on the personal character attributes of Capt. Key. It almost suggests he was to blame simply because he was 'abrupt' with the other crew members. The fact is we don't know as BEA had yet to install CVR's in their fleet. And remember the video never mentions the possibility of Key's incapacitation at a crucial point in the flight due to heart rupture- something that was only picked up on after an autopsy.
bywestonbay 1 year ago
@bywestonbay As with many accidents, it was a 'clusterf..k'.
mcwolfus 1 year ago
@mcwolfus You can say 'clusterfuck' - we're all grownups here. It's true though, an accident like this is usually the result of a sequence of events which, on their own, would not have caused this tragedy but when brought together obviously did.
BTW there is also a rumour, unsubstantiated, that parts of the AAIB report on this incident have been locked away under the '50 year rule' meaning we may not know the full truth until 2022.
bywestonbay 1 year ago
@bywestonbay I wonder what may have been held back from the report. Maybe that the Keys was pissed! It's possible, there would be no point in a fact like that being made public. We will see.
mcwolfus 1 year ago
@mcwolfus: He wasn't pissed. The report was not suppressed, censored or witheld. Go to wiki entry for "BEA flight 548" and you can d/l a copy of it on pdf.
digglyda 1 year ago
@digglyda I never said it was, I have heard other say it,. Didnt his Daughter in her greif suggest that the report was under the X number of years rule? I dont think there was any mystery, I didnt mean to give that impression. The world is quite mudane. Its funny that as a small boy I dont remember the crash at all-this stuff used to fascinate me, and still does. Thanks for reply anyway.
mcwolfus 1 year ago
@mcwolfus: I was only about 1 year old back then but went past the crash location a number of times as a kid. If you use the map on wiki you can find the exact spot quite easily on Google Earth. The fact that there was so much initial confusion about the crash is really bizarre and I thought so even when my dad pointed out the location to me back then. It's right by a main road (A30) and the town (Staines). It's spooky that such an aircraft could come down there almost unnoticed.
digglyda 1 year ago
@bywestonbay The '50 year' rule was reduced to 30 years in 1967. Therefore any confidential papers protected under this rule would have been published in 2005. Why would the government want to protect anything portaining to this accident anyway? I don't really get why they'd be that interested, except perhaps to protect the reputation of an airline that was already blighted with constant strike action, pay disputes etc. All sounds pretty familiar!
tjf4375 10 months ago
@tjf4375 I've been corrected about the '50 year rule' and yeah, you're probably right. I mean BEA was in deep shit at the time and sales of the Trident weren't going well, especially with Boeing entering the market with the 727. I was suspecting that parts of the AAIB report were hushed up in order to hide some critical flaw in the Trident's design. Stilll can't get the incident out of my head though - probably because the absence of a CVR means we'll never know what happened on the flightdeck.
bywestonbay 10 months ago
@bywestonbay I agree with you there, it is one of those haunting tragedies with lots of unanswered questions. You also make a good point about the Trident actually - it's a credible possibility that they'd want to protect the Trident franchise I guess, especially after all of the problems with the DH Comet. Now I think of it, there are similar theories suggesting that the French Government withheld information about the Habsheim incident, to protect the A320 programme but who knows eh! :)
tjf4375 10 months ago
I've had an interest in this tragedy for many years now- mainly from reading the book by Stanley Stewart (interviewed). I visited the crash site about 20 years ago and it was, and I believe still is, just a small field surrounded by trees right next to the Staines bypass. I was 5 at the time tho' I don't remember it myself. Unless proven otherwise I still think it was Capt. Key's sudden incapacitation at a crucial point in the flight and the FO's inexperience which contributed to this incident.
bywestonbay 1 year ago
this happened behind birch green in staines. behind my mum and dads house. i wasnt born then but they remember if very well.
dollywasher 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
My Grandpa died in this crash :(
alex8henry 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
My Grandpa died in this crash :(
alex8henry 1 year ago
My Grandpa died in this crash :(
alex8henry 1 year ago
My grandpa died in this crash :(
alex8henry 1 year ago
There is a memorial to the victims of the 118 who died. It is in the park in Walters Drive which is about 200 to 300 yards from the crash scene.
rugshaw 2 years ago
Labour unions with their Machiavellian tactics ultimately caused this disaster.
BEA pilots were divided over whether or not to strike. Captain Key was opposed to strike action. Some of the younger "hotheads" resented his views. He resented them. Disaster.
jazzkeyboardman 2 years ago
I think one of the most shocking aspects of this incident was ice cream vans arriving to cater for the sightseers!
It was said that traffic was so gridlocked in the area by hundreds of people coming to view the scene, that ambulances were unable to get through without great difficulty.
Scousefire 2 years ago 6
@Scousefire Ice cream vans? Are you serious?
Cool2BCeltic 3 months ago
@Cool2BCeltic Sadly so mate, there is a picture in a book somewhere of an ice-cream van with a queue about 3 or 4 deep and fathers with kids on their shoulders.....all watching the disaster, Madness eh?
Scousefire 3 months ago
@Scousefire There are some things in life that are beyond belief.
Cool2BCeltic 3 months ago
@Scousefire Just been looking a the 'Nikki porche crash Girl'. Nothing has or will change.
mrduffy1100 1 month ago
Actually, this captain was an anally retentive dick.
pelagic6 2 years ago
2:02; what the fuck are the Jehovah's witnesses doing there?
Why, using the dead for their own means, of course. Notice how the sign says "The MAN Christ Jesus"? and not The Lord?
hartistry1957 2 years ago
Rubbish, that isn't Jehovah's Witnesses,they would never conduct themselves in such a manner, clearly it is some other 'christian' group.
brooker712008 2 years ago
Why did the investigators not take finger prints of the crew? Perhaps that way they could have discovered who moved the drop leaver?
awlcvl 2 years ago
quoting: "Ghouls, unfortunate Ghouls..."
sbchelldiver 2 years ago 4
Gosh, awful... I saw people brought their kids to "look" at the crash site. Why on earth would you do that? I'm sure hundreds of people drive past this crash site every day and have no idea over a hundred people died just meters from the A30.
RoadCone411 2 years ago