1959 Transair Douglas Dakota accident

1959 aviation accident

Transair Douglas Dakota accident
Accident
A similar Transair Dakota
Date	19 August 1959 (1959-08-19)
Summary	VFR into IMC Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Montseny Range, Catalonia, Spain
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas Dakota
Operator	Transair
Registration	G-AMZD
Flight origin	Barcelona Airport, Spain
Destination	London-Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom
Passengers	29
Crew	3
Fatalities	32
Injuries	0
Survivors	0

The Transair Douglas Dakota accident was an aircraft accident that occurred on 19 August 1959, when a Douglas Dakota operated by British airline Transair on a non-scheduled flight from Barcelona Airport in Spain to London-Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom crashed in Spain. The aircraft, which was carrying 29 students home to England, had been chartered by the National Union of Students to conduct regular weekly flights between Gatwick and Barcelona. It was the first accident suffered by a Transair aircraft following the airline's formation in 1947.

Accident

The aircraft, registered G-AMZD, had arrived early on the day of the accident at Barcelona from Gatwick with a party of students on board, and was scheduled to return to London with another group of students who were returning home from a holiday in Majorca. The flight was conducted under visual flight rules (VFR); however, 19 minutes after departure from Barcelona, while climbing to its cruising altitude, the Dakota entered cloud and struck Turó de l'Home, a mountain north east of Barcelona. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was 10 nautical miles (19 km) away from its intended flight path. Locals reported that at the time of the crash it was misty in the area.

An official at a nearby weather station raised the alarm upon observing the crash. Upon arrival, the Spanish Civil Guard found the wreckage of the aircraft had been burnt out by a post-impact fire. All 29 passengers and three crew were killed.

Probable cause

Following an investigation of the accident, a report from the Spanish Director-General of Civil Aviation stated:

From an examination of the evidence it can be concluded that the accident was caused through infringement of the regulations and instructions in force for flight over national territory, or of the international standards which are in force in Spain.

The Director-General also stated that the evidence did not indicate that Spanish Air Traffic Control personnel were responsible for the crash through their actions in any way. In addition, there was no evidence found that any defects in aids to navigation contributed to the accident. Accordingly, the British Air Ministry, also investigating the crash, resolved to close the case without allocating responsibility. It was concluded that the pilot should not have entered cloud without advising air traffic control that he required an instrument flight clearance; it was presumed that the pilot was unaware that Turó de l'Home, 1,712 metres (5,617 ft) in height, was in the path of the aircraft at the time the Dakota entered the clouds.

References

Citations

^ Civil Aviation Authority 1974, p. 16/59
^ "29 Students Die in Air Disaster – Crash on Misty Hill-top – Homeward bound from Spain". News. The Times. No. 54545. London. 20 August 1959. col D, p. 8.

Bibliography

World Accident Summary. Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom). 1974. ISBN 0-903083-44-2.

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1959 (1959)
Jan 8 Southeast Airlines Flight 308Jan 11 Lufthansa Flight 502Jan 16 Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 205Jan 18 Aeroflot Flight 205Feb 3 American Airlines Flight 320Feb 3 Clear Lake crash ("The Day the Music Died")Feb 3 Pan Am Flight 115Feb 17 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crashApr 23 Air Charter Turkey crashMay 12 Capital Airlines Flight 75Jun 22 Pan Am Clipper PanamaJun 26 TWA Flight 891Jun 30 Okinawa F-100 crashAug 15 American Airlines Flight 514Aug 19 Transair Douglas Dakota accidentSep 24 TAI Flight 307Sep 29 Braniff Flight 542Oct 19 Washington Boeing 707 crashOct 23 Aeroflot Flight 200Oct 30 Piedmont Airlines Flight 349Nov 16 National Airlines Flight 967Nov 16 Aeroflot Flight 315Nov 21 Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202Dec 1 Allegheny Airlines Flight 371Dec 4 San Diego F3H crash
1958 ◄ ► 1960

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1959 (1959)

Jan 8 Southeast Airlines Flight 308Jan 11 Lufthansa Flight 502Jan 16 Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 205Jan 18 Aeroflot Flight 205Feb 3 American Airlines Flight 320Feb 3 Clear Lake crash ("The Day the Music Died")Feb 3 Pan Am Flight 115Feb 17 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crashApr 23 Air Charter Turkey crashMay 12 Capital Airlines Flight 75Jun 22 Pan Am Clipper PanamaJun 26 TWA Flight 891Jun 30 Okinawa F-100 crashAug 15 American Airlines Flight 514Aug 19 Transair Douglas Dakota accidentSep 24 TAI Flight 307Sep 29 Braniff Flight 542Oct 19 Washington Boeing 707 crashOct 23 Aeroflot Flight 200Oct 30 Piedmont Airlines Flight 349Nov 16 National Airlines Flight 967Nov 16 Aeroflot Flight 315Nov 21 Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202Dec 1 Allegheny Airlines Flight 371Dec 4 San Diego F3H crash

1958 ◄ ► 1960

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain
Before 1970	Hubert Le Blon (April 1910) Aviaco SNCASE Languedoc crash (December 1958) Transair Douglas Dakota accident (August 1959) Iberia Flight 401 (May 1965)
1970s	Dan-Air Flight 1903 (July 1970) Iberia Flight 602 (January 1972) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 (September 1972) Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crash (December 1972) Aviaco Flight 118 (August 1973) Imperial Iranian Air Force Flight 48 (May 1976) Tenerife airport disaster (March 1977)
1980s	Dan-Air Flight 1008 (April 1980) Spantax Flight 995 (September 1982) Avianca Flight 011 (November 1983) Madrid runway disaster (December 1983) Iberia Flight 610 (February 1985)
1990s	Britannia Airways Flight 226A (September 1999)
2000s	Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261 (August 2001) Flightline Flight 101 (October 2001) Spanair Flight 5022 (August 2008)
2010s	2015 Seville Airbus A400M crash (May 2015)

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