1929 Imperial Airways Handley Page W.10 crash

Aircraft

The accident aircraft was Handley Page W.10 G-EBMT City of Ottawa, c/n W10-4. It had been delivered to Imperial Airways on 25 December 1925.

Accident

G-EBMT was operating an international scheduled flight from Croydon Airport to Zurich Airport, Switzerland via Paris - Le Bourget Airport and Basel Airport, Switzerland. Having departed from Croydon at 10:30,

The nose of the aircraft dived into the water on landing. The passengers at the front of the aircraft were thrown from their seats and trapped. Four passengers seated at the tail of the aircraft escaped, as did both crew. Gaby went to the aid of the stricken airliner and rescued the six survivors. The body of one of the victims was also recovered. They were transferred to the Dover pilot cutter which took them to Folkestone. The cutter entered Folkestone harbour at 2:45 pm flying the signal EDY, signifying that ambulances were required, and with her red ensign at half-mast. The injured survivors were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkestone. The body of the casualty was landed at Folkestone, The wreckage was towed to Dungeness, where a search revealed only baggage and personal belongings of the passengers. Three victims were unaccounted for at that stage.

An inquest was opened by the Lydd Coroner on 19 June at Lydd Town Hall into the deaths of the four victims whose bodies had been recovered. Evidence was given that the pilot, Captain Brailli was experienced, with 1,000 hours flying time. He had been in the employ of Imperial Airways for a year. The aircraft was shown to have been airworthy on departure from Croydon.

Investigation

The Air Ministry opened an investigation into the accident under the Air Navigation (Investigation of Accidents) Regulations, 1922. The investigation opened on 25 June at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, with Sir Arthur Colefax in charge. The cause of the engine failure was the fracture of No. 4 connecting rod in the starboard engine. The engine had run for 126 hours since its last overhaul, with the permitted time between overhauls being 300 hours. The connecting rod had failed due to the failure of the big end bearing studs.

The aircraft's Certificate of Airworthiness had last been renewed in November 1928 and was valid for a year. Its maximum permissible load was 2946 lb; the aircraft's load was 2494 lb on departure from Croydon. Evidence was given by three of the four surviving passengers and both crew. The fourth surviving passenger was not called as she was legally a minor at the time and had lost her father in the accident. The inquiry closed on 3 July. Imperial Airways and Napier, the engine manufacturer, were cleared of any blame for the accident. The report into the investigation was published on 12 July. Among the recommendations were that passengers should be provided with seatbelts and that aircraft not capable of maintaining level flight with an inoperative engine and not designed to land on water should be withdrawn from continental routes after 1 July 1930.

Casualties

The nationalities of the casualties were -

References

References

1. "Civil Aircraft Register – Great Britain". Golden Years of Aviation.
2. "Cross Channel Disaster". Flight.
3. (18 June 1929). "Channel Air Disaster".
4. (19 June 1929). "Channel Air Disaster".
5. Denham, Terry. "World Directory of Airliner Crashes". Patrick Stephens Ltd.
6. Associated Press, "Seven Die in Plane Crash in Britain", ''Winnipeg Evening Tribune'', June 17, 1929, col. A, p. 1
7. (26 June 1929). "Channel Air Disaster".
8. (4 July 1929). "The Channel Air Disaster".
9. "Loss of "City of Ottawa"". Flight.
10. "The Channel Disaster – Air Ministry Report". Flight.