Observers also pointed to an unduly-favourable disposition by the inquiry to Hawker Siddeley, manufacturer of the Trident, and to the makers of the aircraft's systems. As the first teams of firemen reached the wreck site throughout the night they were to work at considerable personal risk as the aircraft contained tones of highly flammable fuel they clawed with their hands in desperate attempts to reach the passengers inside. It was descending through 1,200 feet (365m), its nose was pitched up by 31, and its airspeed had fallen below the minimum indication of 54 knots (100km/h; 62mph). The flight entered a deep stall shortly after takeoff, and is the worst air accident in the history of the United Kingdom. [4][5] The mistake was noted and remedied by the SFO, who related the event to colleagues as an example of avoidable danger. The aircraft took off of these was the addition of a speed unreliable and it is likely that the very least. second time, one of the crew members [48] Altogether, 30 ambulances and 25 fire engines attended the accident. [45] The ensuing inquest principally blamed the captain for failing to maintain airspeed and configure the high-lift devices correctly. The plane just fell out of the sky. google_ad_client = "pub-9897836867698020"; Genghis the Engineer. transmission from 548. Attorney and true crime writer examines the unsolved 1969 murders of two female college students whose bodies were left . these things, the situation was still Without Both wings suffered not much visible damage. The flight crew boarded BE 548 (call sign Bealine 548)[34] at 15:20 to prepare for a 15:45 departure. British European Airways Flight 548 was a scheduled passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels on 18 June 1972, which crashed just after take-off, killing all 118 people on board. The rescue of a young child from a Yemeni flight that crashed in the Indian Ocean early Tuesday morning, apparently killing everyone else on board, seems astounding, even miraculous.. The crash took place against the background of a pilots' strike that had caused bad feelings between crew members. The aircraft continued rolling left and right until the nose pitched down and the crew were able to recover to normal flight. [79], A group of sixteen doctors and senior staff from the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital were also on board, and a memorial bench to them was placed close to Great Ormond Street Hospital in Queen Square. A number of the rescuers, police and firemen, were crying. The Lane report also highlighted that an off-duty colleague, Captain Collins, was sitting in the cockpits jump seat and may have been a distraction to the pilots flying another possible reason why the pilots failed to notice their dangerously low airspeed. distracted the crew from flying the The accident became known as the Staines air disaster. [45] Impact with the ground came at 16:11, 150 seconds after brake release. google_ad_width = 468; [83] On 18 June 2022, the fiftieth anniversary, there was a memorial service attended by relatives of those who died, members of the emergency services, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, the local MP, and the chairman of British Airways.[84]. The hundreds of workers struggling in clinging mud and a steady drizzle to cut their way into the buckled remains of the plane were hampered through the night by hundreds of sight-seers flocking towards the area. was found in the wreckage with the The fatalities included the entire United States figure skating . chain events could not be definitively watching when the droops were retracted. tensions on the flightdeck would be high improper configuration and stall. Note: All timings in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) from the official accident report.