PLANE CRASH LUCKY ESCAPE - 1946
PLANE CRASH LUCKY ESCAPE - 1946
London's Heathrow airport was under construction and planes were flying out of nearby Northolt Airport - at that time it was said to be the busiest in the world.
In December 1946, after taking off during a heavy snowstorm, a Douglas DC-3 operated by British European Airways (BEA) - flying from Northolt to Glasgow - crashed onto the roof of a house in South Ruislip (about 3 miles from take-off).
All of the crew and passengers escaped unharmed by climbing through the loft of the house and leaving via the front door.
#planecrash #plane #Heathrow #London
Taking off during a snowstorm suggests a load of ice on the wings. IIRC, the US Air Force had some pretty strict rules about Northolt, the most important being that you couldn't land there unless you'd landed there with a pilot who'd already been there at least once. That had more to do with the airspace than the airfield.
ReplyDeletevery scary event, but the part about leaving through the front door is pretty funny!
ReplyDeleteUnd dann heiĂźt es hier in Deutschland immer 'Frau am Steuer'. ;-))
ReplyDeleteMike Martin What chemical was/is used for de-icing? And when was that first practiced? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteAnn Kennedy - Ann, I believe the chemical of choice is propylene glycol. Sometimes it's sprayed on the aircraft at the gate and often you may see two trucks on either side of the taxiway with booms raised to spray each aircraft as it taxies past. All aircraft operators, military and civil, learned about how dangerous ice can be from the Air Florida crash into the Potomac River in January 1982.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90
De-icing is fairly new, but aircraft were equipped with rubber anti-icing boots on the leading edges of wings as early as WW II.
Mike Martin Thanks, Mike. I thought it was a fairly recent thing but never really knew much about it. Apparently it works since it's been awhile since a serious accident related to ice on the aircraft has happened. I appreciate the link, too.
ReplyDeleteMike Martin Thanks for all of the information Mike, didn't know that about landing at Northolt. I used to live quite near there as a child - about halfway between Heathrow and Northolt.
ReplyDeleteI remember going to Heathrow with mum and dad 'to watch the planes' - there was just a rope between watchers and the planes. Vastly different to today's security!
Ann Kennedy Thanks for your question to the other Mike - interesting info.
ReplyDeletePatsy Priebe P.J. Schaberger Thanks for your contributions.
ReplyDelete