Today, sitting in his comfortable living room, Chris Thompson closes his eyes as he recounts what happened next, one hand clutching the other to calm the shaking. A very unexpected scenario. [24] The pilots had received no simulator training on the new model, as no simulator for the 737-400 existed in the UK at that time. "It wasn't until the BBC contacted me five years ago for the 25th anniversary that I looked online and realised how many people had died.". Monument to Kanash air disaster victims at Babaoshan (20191204142200).jpg. Approaching the check-in desk, he wasn't medicated. By now, police officers had also started arriving. Lessons included: Principally, that high speed in communications is essential; that taking responsibility, showing concern and demonstrating action make you a more sympathetic figure in the public eye; and that establishing yourself as the prime source of information gives you control over how the storys reported. Some 47 people died when a British Midland Boeing 737 from Heathrow to Belfast went down in an embankment of the M1 as it tried to divert to East Midlands Airport on January 8, 1989. And at the check-in desk he was haunted by his knowledge of Flight 92's seating layout. The British Midland flight 092 was forced to crash land after both engines of the brand new aircraft failed and later caught fire. Stockport Air Disaster. He was the most seriously-injured survivor and spent three years in hospital. The Captain thought the smoke and fumes were coming forward from the cabin to the flight deck and was assuming most of the air in the cabin was supplied by the No. The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) team called to get to the bottom of the tragedy had seen more than its fair share of trauma in recent weeks. The aircraft broke into three sections. There were a total of 47 fatalities, 74 serious injures and the other 5 persons on board escaping with just minor injuries. Inside he found Alice O'Hagan, who'd been travelling with her husband Eamon. "There's nothing you can do. Furthermore, on both the B737-300 and -400 air from theNo. The pilot eventually came on said we were having trouble with the engine. Kegworth air disaster memorials (12 F) L. Lancaster 4103 and Airspeed LB415 Crash . They [the four survivors] didn't say anything. But a quarter of a century after the night which changed his life, the memories are still vivid and his hands shake violently as he recalls the moment he realised he was probably going to die. Spirits you could smell. But the experience haunted him for years. Accident Site of British Midland B737-400 G-OBME, Kegworth 8 January 1989 (Credit: AAIB). B737-400 Engine Instrument System (EIS) Primary Instruments to the Left Secondary to the Right (Credit: FAA). Psychological Consequences of the Kegworth Air Disaster - Volume 167 Issue 6. . "It wasn't a bomb. Kegworth, The boy made a full recovery, but his mother Ruth was not so lucky. What did I know?". "Vibration is an understatement," he says. After a couple of years, he managed to fly without self-medicating and he no longer goes through his routine of picturing Flight 92's seating plan before checking in. Realising it was about to crash, they managed to slow traffic using their hazard-warning lights. It seemed that Alan's resolve had been justified - the problem was in hand, and would be nothing more than an inconvenience. Children were left without parents. Once he'd got over the "stunned disbelief that this had happened again", he quickly joined his colleagues in a police escort up the motorway to Kegworth. He was a seasoned flyer - travelling up to 35 times a year - and about 15 minutes after boarding the 19:50 British Midland flight from Heathrow, he was relaxing in row one with a meal and a glass of wine. 1 engine. a psychiatrist who worked with the victims affected by the Hungerford shootings and the Lockerbie and Hillsborough disasters . "Today was very emotional, meeting him. He recalled: "I was sent to East Midlands Airport, but before I got there the aircraft crashed in front of me and broke up into three places on the embankment of the motorway. 1 (i.e left hand) engine fan blades detached, causing compressor stalls, airframe vibrationand a smell of fire in the cockpit. TheCaptain said, Okay, throttle it backabout 19 seconds after the failure, referring to the No. But it was too late. A Boeing 737 carrying 126 people plummeted into the M1 in Leicestershire. "We were watching it coming in and then it just disappeared in a cloud of smoke.". Remarkably though, the plane seemed to settle down. In the frantic final few seconds of the flight, as alarms warned they were close to crashing, the men desperately tried to start the engine up again. It was then he realised - at this height and with no engines - there was little chance they would survive. British Midland, But the thunderous rattle that shook their homes that quiet Sunday evening, as many of them settled down to watch television, was something else entirely. "We had to check if somehow the right engine's wiring had crossed with the left," he says. Just before crossing the M1 motorway at 20:24:43, the tail and main landing gear struck the ground and the aircraft bounced back into the air and over the motorway, knocking down trees and a lamp post before crashing on the far embankment around 475 m (519 yd) short of the active runway's paved surface and about 630 m (689 yd) from its threshold. For years, Alan had worked in the oil industry, often flying on ancient, unreliable planes. On the 737-400, this division of air is blurred; the left pack feeds the flight deck, but also feeds the aft passenger cabin, while the right feeds the forward passenger cabin. In Captain Hunt's opinion, this particular instrument was unreliable. Survivors and families of some of those killed in the Kegworth air disaster have attended a memorial service to mark 30 years since the crash.The Boeing 737 . [15], When the pilots shut down the right engine, they could no longer smell the smoke, which led them to believe that they had correctly dealt with the problem. Thanks to Curiosity Stream for sponsoring today's video. ", "Kegworth Village, Kegworth Air Disaster 1989", "Aircrash Confidential: Lethal Malfunctions Videos at", BBC 10th anniversary page about the crash, Pre-crash and crash pictures of the aircraft, "Op-Ed: Learning From The Kegworth Air Disaster, 30 Years On", Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.34 crash, London, Scottish & Provincial Airways Airspeed Courier crash, Hillman's Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide crash, Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kegworth_air_disaster&oldid=1134145982, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error, Aviation accidents and incidents in England, British Midland International accidents and incidents, Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Classic, January 1989 events in the United Kingdom, Airliner accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by design or manufacturing errors, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by wrong engine shutdown, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Articles needing additional references from October 2010, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Failure of one engine followed by erroneous shut-down of the operating engine, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 06:00. Mervyn was one of the most seriously injured and remembers nothing of the crash itself. Harrowing accounts of the Kegworth air disaster which killed 47 people, 30 years on; Read More Related Articles. That was pretty sobering.". He recently celebrated his 40th birthday, and the family still hopes for improvements. What's he waiting for? With horror, they realised the plane had actually crashed. Among the bewildered group was Mervyn Finlay, who was sitting by a window in row 21. { board.name }} {{ board.total_asset_count }} View all Boards View all Sets CREATE BOARD. 1 engine. Buford mentions one crash that took out a bunch of officials all in one go. Select from premium Kegworth M1 Air Crash of the highest quality. twelve lives. That's what was rattling Hunt and McClelland. ", See More: Air crash hero wins damages. It is exactly 30 years since a British Midlands flight from Heathrow to Belfast crashed as it tried to divert to East Midlands Airport. The tail snapped off, flipped over, and landed upside-down on top of the right wing, alongside the mid-section of the fuselage. Posted by Aerossurance on Jan 5, 2019 in Accidents & Incidents, Crises / Emergency Response / SAR, Design & Certification, Fixed Wing, Regulation, Safety Management, Survivability / Ditching | 0 comments. First Officer McClelland joined British Midland in 1988 and had accrued roughly 3,300 total flight hours. Either way, the crew had to resort to trial and error. The survivors and families of the victims of the Kegworth air disaster have held a short memorial service on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. Chris shattered both his legs, but benefitted from then-revolutionary procedures to pin the bones together partly developed for bomb victims in Northern Ireland. Some time after the accident, David McClelland was awarded an out-of-court settlement for unfair dismissal. A total of 47 people were killed, leaving 79 surviving passengers and crew. I pulled myself out, got to the edge of the plane, and this man was standing there, grabbed me and took me down to the motorway. Many passengers also suffered life-changing injuries. Tuesday 8 January 2019, 11:05am. He was preparing to shut it down and divert the plane to East Midlands Airport - base of the British Midland fleet. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast International Airport when a fan blade broke in the left engine, disrupting the air conditioning and filling the cabin with smoke. As the plane lurched, passengers became gripped with panic, screaming, pleading with the engine to work and clutching one another for comfort. . Some of those who had flown from Northern Ireland to attend the commemorations wiped away tears as people paid their respects. He received psychological help, and recovered quickly enough to fly again on the first anniversary of the crash. Some 47 people died when a British Midland Boeing 737 from Heathrow to Belfast went down in an embankment of the M1 as it tried to divert to East Midlands Airport on January 8, 1989. [16], During the final approach to the East Midlands Airport, the pilots selected increased thrust from the operating, damaged engine. The stick shaker then activated. It's the right one". But at the back of the plane there was unease among a small group of passengers. No, I can't be because I'm an optimist. He threw himself into the work of the Air Accident Safety Group, which he formed with Alan Johnston. He is well known at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in France, where the family makes an annual pilgrimage to pray for a cure. Hymns were sung, prayers were said and candles were lit. They were trying to get to passengers like Chris Thompson, buried at the front of the plane under a pile of luggage flung out of the overhead lockers. [citation needed], The dials on the two vibration gauges (one for each engine) were smaller than on the previous versions of the 737 in which the pilots had the majority of their experience and the LED needle went around the outside of the dial as opposed to the inside. A paramedic from Hinckley who attended the Kegworth air disaster is retiring after almost 45 years of service on the front line.. Dave Thorne, 66, is standing down from his post at the ambulance . Many survivors feel the men were made scapegoats and that British Midland - and the airline industry as a whole - did not shoulder enough of the blame. Had they not, it would probably have been an uneventful journey home. However, it convinced the pilots they had solved the problem. Passengers, both alive and dead, continued to be pulled from the wreckage. But there were still a few pockets of calm. A Boeing 737, carrying 126 people, crashed on the M1 near Kegworth, in Leicestershire . Loud bangs were heard coming from the left-hand engine of the plane as an evening meal was being served shortly after take-off from the capital at around 8pm that night. "The [left] engine was surging," says Steve. The AAIBdetermined that the fan blade failure was due to high-cycle fatiguedue to fan flutter. [20] Aid was also given by an eight strong troop of SAS soldiers, four of whom were regimentally qualified paramedics. The No. There was an uneasy feeling at London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) as 118 passengers, including one infant, boarded British Midland Flight 092, operated by a brand new Boeing 737-400, for the short 'shuttle' service to Belfast International Airport (BFS). No one travelling on the busy M1 was harmed in the impact. "It was an unpleasant scene. The obvious conclusion was pilot error - a theory given more support when McClelland's comments were recovered from the data recorder. The pilots chose to throttle back to the right engine - partly, according to Hunt, because of the smoke in the cabin. The display consists of primary engine instruments to the left and secondary instruments (such as vibration) to the right. One of the AAIB's first jobs was to salvage and repair damaged aircraft components and check for pre-existing flaws, such as mechanical or wiring errors. Then enter the 'name' part of your Kindle email address below. As Captain Hunt reduced power the plane stabilised and peace gradually returned to the cabin. They were criticised for shutting down the wrong engine in the official accident report and were . Research following the plane crash on the M1 at Kegworth changed the brace position. Midland B737-400 G-OBME, Kegworth 8 January 1989 ( Credit: FAA ) they not, convinced. People were killed, leaving 79 surviving passengers and crew back of the plane had actually.. 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