1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident

50°36′10″N 1°11′52″W / 50.6027°N 1.1977°W / 50.6027; -1.1977AircraftAircraft typeDouglas C-47A DakotaOperatorEast Anglian Flying Services trading as Channel AirwaysRegistrationG-AGZBFlight originJersey Airport, Jersey, Channel IslandsDestinationPortsmouth Airport, Portsmouth, EnglandPassengers15Crew3Fatalities12Survivors6

The 1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident occurred on 6 May 1962 when a Channel Airways ^{[N 1]} Douglas C-47A Dakota, registered G-AGZB and operating a scheduled passenger flight from Jersey to Portsmouth, collided with a cloud-covered hill at St Boniface Down, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. The aircraft had previously been owned by British European Airways, and was named "Robert Smith-Barry". The aircraft was destroyed, and twelve of the eighteen occupants were killed (all three crew members and nine out of 15 passengers, including three infants).^[1][2][3]

Accident

The Dakota was on a scheduled flight from Jersey to Southend with a stop at Portsmouth. There were 15 passengers aboard.^[1][4] With low cloud and drizzle in the Portsmouth/Isle of Wight area, the aircraft notified the controller that they were descending from 3,000 to 1,000 feet.^[1][4] The aircraft was seen flying low over Ventnor just before it crashed, fifty feet below the summit of St Boniface Down and close to a disused Royal Air Force radar site.^[1][2] The aircraft bounced and smashed through a ten-foot high perimeter fence of the radar site and burst into flames. Both pilots and eight of the passengers were killed instantly.^[2]

The first man on the scene, a farm worker, helped two badly burned girls from the wreckage. After leading two other men to safety, he ran up the road to find help. There he found a group of seven amateur radio operators broadcasting as G3GWB/p ^[5] who were taking part in a competition.^[2] The radiomen alerted another amateur radio operator in Southampton (G3NIM in Netley), who contacted the emergency services.^[2] The seven injured were taken to local hospitals at Ryde and Newport; two of them, a stewardess and a passenger, subsequently died.^[2]

Aftermath

A coroner's inquest was opened and then adjourned for two months on the Isle of Wight on 8 May.^[6] The Channel Airways chief pilot said it was the company's first fatal accident in 17 years of operation.^[6] The coroner paid tribute to those who took part in the rescue operation, and in particular Edward Price, the farmworker who was first on the scene.^[6]

Probable cause

The probable cause of the accident was flying below a safe altitude in cloudy, rainy weather.^[1]

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