How A Simple Coincidence Killed 112 People | Dan Air 1903
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
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This is the story of dan air 1903. On the 3rd of july 1970 a dehavilland comet was on the way from manchester airport to barcelona airport. If you dont know the comet was the worlds first jet airliner. At the time the comet was the cutting edge of what was possible, she made everything that had come before her look outdated. But for the comet being on the cutting edge meant that sometimes she got cut, the comet infamously had design issues that took two planes down and that lead to a redesign of the entire structure of the plane. If you want to see a video about those accidents then let me know in the comments below! But the story of 1903 is often overlooked and almost forgotten. . on that fateful day flight 1903 was a charter flight with 112 people onboard. The jet took off at 4:08 pm and it climbed to its cruising altitude and the french controllers routed the plane through french airspace. It was a bit busy so flight 1903 had to take some detours and so as it approached spanish airspace it was a bit late. The french controllers decided to take them down from 37000 feet to 22000 feet. Once the jet had entered spanish airspace the pilots were ready to get down to 9000 feet. Throughout all of this the pilots of flight 1903 were in contact with controllers letting them know their estimated arrival times at each way point in their route. Once the pilots were in contact with barcelona approach they got an instruction to turn to the left to a heading of 140 degrees. The pilots acknowledged and like before they told ATC that they expected to be at the waypoint Sabadell at 6:07 pm. At 6:00 pm approach asked the pilots for confirmation that they indeed would be hitting sabadel at exactly 6:07 pm. But things had changed and the pilots now told them that they would be at sabadell at 6:05 pm two minutes earlier than expected. So the controller now updated his clearance, the left hand turn was canceled and the pilots now had to proceed directly to sabadell. As flight 1903 was getting down to 9000 feet, the controller enquire if they had a DME or distance measuring equipment onboard, the comet did not. The pilots were then cleared down to 6000 feet and they were instructed to make a left hand turn to 140 degrees now. Lets pause for a second why is th controller asking flight 1903 to turn to the left to 140 degrees. The airport was using ASR-5 radar and they were using the radar in primary mode meaning that they didnt have labels on their screen telling them who was who, instead they just had a bunch of blobs on their screen. To see who was who the controllers would just ask the pilot to make a turn and that way based on who was making the turn on radar they could tell who was who. This technique is still used today when someone’s transponder conks out. I dont know why they had to use this though the comet was equipped with a bendix tra 61 Al transponder . maybe the ASR-5 that the airport was using was not equipped to receive transponder signals or something, if you know why let me know in the comments below. . Right after this the controller wanted to know if flight 1903 was passing the waypoint sabadell, the pilot replied with “in about 30 seconds” just 15 seconds later they were at the waypoint sabadell and the controller said “radar contact, continue descent 2800 feet altimeter 1017 transition level 5-0”. After that the pilots
How did a modern airliner fly into a Spanish mountain as it was attempting to land at one of the busiest airports in spain. If there was a systemic issue at play here they needed to find it as soon as possible otherwise 1000s of lives would be at risk The first thing that they looked at were the navigational aids that the pilots were using at the time of the crash, if they were to malfunction then that would explain the accident so the investigators decided to look at the the Sabadell NDB, Barcelona VOR, Perpignan VOR and Gerona VOR to see if any of them were malfunctioning and they weren't something else brought flight 1903 down. Now if this were a modern accident the investigators would have a wealth of data from the data recorders on the plane but with this being the 1970s not a whole lot of data was recorded on the data recorders. Only a few parameters were recorded namely time, speed, altitude, pitch attitude, heading and
vertical acceleration were recorded and that too only for the last 8 minutes of flight. This is a far cry from what is possible today where 100s of parameters are recorded from the position of control surfaces to the placement of t 
Наука
There’s a memorial to this in my hometown of Burnley. There was quite a few passengers from here on that flight.
I’m sorry for your loss
I’m from Burnley and remember this accident. A family who lived in a nearby street to us were killed in the crash . Coincidentally my family and I travelled on a Dan Air Comet to our holiday in Spain in the early seventies.
I watch alot of aircraft incident videos and every time I fly I cant help think about all the rules and regulations that came from the deaths of so many
😳😳
They call it. " Tomb stone technology".
I heard a fireman say the fire code is a testament to the dead, same reason.
I think about this too. Imagine what space exploration will be like
Yep, every major Health and Safety rule has been paid for in blood.
Yes, videos of the other Dehavilland Comet accidents would be great.
Perhaps conduct a poll to see who'd be interested in a series that discusses specific incidents that had a significant impact on modern aviation.
I second this comment 👍🏾
Please
It wasn’t the windows!
That would be awesome to watch.
@@hepphepps8356
Correct.
Not following instructions for manufacturing
I was working as an Air Traffic Control Assistant in Manchester Tower on the day of the accident. I remember getting a request from Barcelona ATC to confirm the Actual Time of Departure of this flight. It was later on that day that we realised what had happened to Dan Air 1903.
I worked at Gatwick and we knew this plane well..G- APDN . A very sad incident
I personally do my training at Sabadell, yes, where the VOR is. That mountains are no joke, I've been flying over the one this plane crashed, you can still see the remains.
Always excellent content even though the story is heartbreaking 💔
Rest in Peace to the 112 lives lost ..
Stay safe everyone 🙏
Much love from North Carolina USA 🌷
Yes, we'd like a video about the two early Comet crashes! After all, they (tragically) helped establishing safety standards for modern, jet-powered airliners.
It wasn’t strictly the square windows on the comet, the primary failure was the top “window” for the radio antenna..
Sextant actually.
But it was the holes being drilled not punched and using the wrong glue.
Metal fatigue was well understood by then
Comet design was rushed and cheap. Usual British 'profits first'.
@@trevorsmith7753
I think you mean usa capitalism.
Britannia was and is socialist
@@brucebaxter6923This is such a funny cope, thank you. Keep not examining anything too close.
@@Avendesora
What do you take issue with?
The (metal fatigue) design issues referred to in this video were on the Comet 1, which first flew in 1949. The plane was indeed years ahead of any other jet airliner design. After two notorious crashes from altitude, all Comets were grounded. Once the cause of the crash was understood, The plane was redesigned as the Comet 4, a very different plane and one that had a successful service career. Dan Air flew the Comet 4 (I flew on it twice on trips to Spain). It is not really appropriate to to discuss the issues of the Comet 1 in the context of this accident story. But I love your channel, so keep 'em coming 👍
The aircraft lived on as the military variant too, the Nimrod! Until recent
I think it's important to mention the Comet 1 to differentiate them.
A lot of people forget or don't know about the whole redesign and Comet 4
Thank you so much. I really enjoy your videos.
I would be very interested in videos about the early history of the Comet.
Great recap of a relatively unheard of incident. I was shocked that the comet was still in commercial use as late as 1970.
Comets were in commercial use until 1980, with Dan Air flying the last passenger flight in November of that year. Military variants flew much longer.
It was the first plane I ever flew on - in I think 1979. Dan Air. I didn't know anything about planes at the time, but the Comet is so distinctive that it can't really be mistaken for anything else. I remember it being very cramped, but then Dan Air packed it's passengers in!
Much later than 1970.. Indeed DanAor a quite a large fleet of Comet 4 , 4b and 4c .. I flew myself to Tenerife North Los Rodeos Airport in November 1970 on GAPDC .. The Comet 4 was a very safe 4 engined aircraft with few incidents involving the plane itself.. I worked for 31 years at London Gatwick Airport from 1969 until retirement in 2000. Dan Air had many different types of aircraft including the B727 , B737 , Bac1-11 , Bae 146 and others. A good and very friendly airline that cared for its staff..
@@jonathan3141Dan Air was a very good airline much loved by passengers and crew. It served people with respect and decency unlike todays cheap frill airlines. I worked at London Gatwick and can assure you that Dan Air was a very well run airline.
The ASR and the secondary, transponder, system are separate from each other. The ASR will only display a dash for an aircraft. The secondary system, using a transponder, displays the aircraft’s code and altitude.
One of your best!
I've listened to Forsythe's The Shepherd on CBC for 32 Christmas Eves in a row. Listening this xmas will be different. Thanks you for another riveting and educational 10 minutes.
Yes, please cover more of De Havilland's troubles!
Thanks for sharing. Regards from Australia 🦘🇦🇺
Nice respectful commentry. Well done and thanks.
This sort of crash reminds me how amazing it is that investigators were able to solve air crashes at all before proper CVRs and FDRs. Lack of information = lack of meaningful conclusion…or, on a more sinister note, more room for massaging findings.
In Spain, in July you still have roughly 2 hours of daylight left. From this I gather, that they must have been in cloud, OK?
Thanks for an - again! - very interesting and very well done accident report!
I was also baffled on the weather conditions, cloud cover, visibility etc, surely this played an important role in the crash? Lighting conditions were also missing from this otherwise excellent report. Future videos should include atmospheric conditions.
Yes,
I'd sure like to see a video on the de Havilland Comet, BOAC Flight 781
and also Lockheed Constellation, KLM Flight 633
good work MACi
Cheers !
Hello, great video, but I feel like having a map with routes that would show flight paths (actual vs what they supposed to be) would add a lot more clarity to the material
Great suggestion, I was waiting the whole time for graphical representation of the route flown.
Thanks for the video! Where did you manage to get that Comet for X Plane?
feels strange hearing about a comet crash that happened in the 70's, would love a detailed video about the imfamous crashes
Comets were in service into the 2000’s as the nimrod.
@@brucebaxter6923 But the Nimrods were RAF military planes (double deckers).
@@julosx nope.
Just comets
Comet 4 was a great aircraft. Very few accidents attributed to the aircraft itself. Dan Air had a large fleet right through to the 80's.. A very friendly and efficient airline loved by staff and passengers alike.
Excellent job!
Love your channel
I would like to see a video of those other two crashes that you spoke about. Taikuu
Would LOVE to see a video compilation of the other Comet crashes. 👍✈️✌️
My sister was on this flight, I was a small child, I still wonder what went wrong, thank you for your input.
I flew in a Dan Air comet (London to Naples return). It was a noisy aircraft as the engines were close to the cabin, but you felt like you were on a legendary aircraft
Something's missing. 6pm Summer. Still 3 hours until they lose the horizon. What was the weather? In this time period there should have been a Navigator tracking the VOR Radials. We're the Receivers working properly? (Doesn't seem that they were)
My late father was a BOAC captain on the Comet 4, he always referred to the sharp end as the flight deck, just as a mention.
I always love your videos. But are you running the video a little faster than usual? I can’t quite pick up some of the more technical words because you speak them so fast. I never had that problem before. Just wondering if you thought a small increase in the speed of the video would be a good idea. If you have sped it up I don’t think I like it. 😊
Thank You
Please say altitudes according to standards like 3 thousand 8 hundred, and not 38 hundred. Would make your thoughts easier to follow, and well... that's the correct form in aviation :)
According to another video I watched, the British dead were buried in a mass grave in Spain, which must be awful for the British families. An absolutely terrible disaster; there were whole families with children who were killed. There is a memorial to some of the victims in Burnley Cemetery.
G-BDIX (the aircraft in your video) is alive and well at the Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Scotland UK. It was flown there on retirement back in 1980 and still sits (complete) outside to this day. It was originally an RAF transport aircraft and went into service with Dan Air after leaving the RAF in the 70's. Interestingly, it is the only aircraft to have flown both the late Queen Elizabeth II and her heir, the then Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) at the same time whilst in it's transport role (a practice which is frowned upon for obvious reasons). If anyone is even remotely interested, the 'Dan' in Dan Air was not someones name - it was the initials of the Davies and Newman shipping line that set up the airline back in the day!
Quite correct.. I worked at London Gatwick.. The Comet that crashed was registration GAPDN and I managed to secure a copy of the final report of that crash..
Great video, and awesome simulation. According your info they approached Barcelona in daytime.(6 pm at the beginning of july) It is not said what the weather conditions were. I guess visibility was low, otherwise they could have seen that they were very low and about to fly into a hill. And yes with today's radars and navigation this would probably not have happened. However although this comet did not have DME, I wonder if it had VOR receivers, and CDI. If it had CDI (course deviation indicator) they could have setup for a radial inbound Sabadell SLL VOR. Now you only say waypoint Sabadell. I presume it was Sabadell SLL VOR at that time. So if you fly on a radial towards the VOR, you always end up over the VOR. But even if you do not have CDI but only an arrow pointing in the direction of the VOR you can still overfly it. So how they could end up so far off course is really strange... But as you said, because of these crashes aviation has become much safer today. But still sad of the lives lost...
Nimrod MR2 still had the same data recorders as the comet it was designed from, up until it was decommissioned in 2010.
DId not know Dan Air flew the Comet. I only remember them for the Shorts and the odd jet or two, though...that may just be what I was told. Then again looking at how many issues Dan Air had, they could be a series all by itself, really. THey were called Dan Dair for a reason around my neck of the woods for their antics though
Dan-Air flew a lot more aircraft than the odd jet or two. They were the worlds largest operator of the Comet owning 49 over the years. Have a look at their history online. Fascinating pioneer airline.
Dan never flew Shorts aircraft.
To think they ALSO crashed a 727 about ten years after this crash on a plane on its way to Spain (the Canarias). Yes, it's yet another CIFIT. It's incredible how air traffic controls and air companies were prone to imagine/suppose where aircrafts were instead of actually knowing it.
Maybe Damn Air
If I remember correctly, Dan Air bought their Comets second-hand on the cheap to bolster their summer services. I think a lot came from BOAC.
"Aviation safety rules are written blood".
That was told to me when I first became an aircraft mechanic 48 years ago.
My question is, if it is July, 6pm, wouldn't it still be daylight enough to see the upcoming mountain range?
Definitely yes. In July, you have light easily up to 9pm
You're assuming clear weather, no clouds or fog, that the sun wasn't shining right in their eyes....
As a IFR certified private pilot, if in visual conditions, my primary information comes from looking out the windscreen. Shocking that, unless they entered IFR conditions, that they just did not add power and climb over the terrain. The pilot in command has final authority.
If you do make a video about the early Comet accidents, please don’t forget the very first fatal crash - a runway overrun on takeoff in Karachi, Pakistan, during a repositioning flight. My great-aunt’s husband was killed in that crash.
This explains why the availability of GPS for commercial airliners since the late 1990’s have just about eliminated the type of controlled flight into terrain crashes as shown in this video.
The designers were ok, the workers making holes for some of the rivets, punched them leaving torn metal edges which were quick to fail. The coverup, was believed and the round windows were proof the plane you were flying in was safe. The real reason was invisible.
Your final comment here is the most relevant.. 'That due to accidents like these aviation has progressed so much... that all the improvements have been written in blood'. My career as a pilot grew through many of these improvements, I can well attest the unreliability of NDBs as a navigation aid, they were subject to errors due to day/night transition, to weather, to coastal effects and terrain.. On one occasion while flying a circling approach over mountains I was descending according to the ADF (Cockpit instrument for reading NDBs) and at night in very poor weather and turbulence, decided to request that my FO retune the second ADF to the one I was depending on as a back-up, we discovered that it was reading a 30 degree difference ! Without hesitating I climbed out and flew to the alternate. The guys these days have no idea how well off they are.. yet they still occasionally fly into the gound !
ohhh poor old Dan Dare... they were still flying Comet's in 1980!!
Not poor old ... Dan Air was loved and fondly remembered by many staff and passengers. I worked at London Gatwick and can assure you Dan Air was one of the best airlines there for precision planning and safety in its operation.. Far better than what you find now such as the likes of EasyJet or Wizzair for example.
@@ianjameshodges1509 Agreed, I too have fondness for Dan Dare. I felt it was a shame they went under, hence my 'poor...' Many people in South Wales took their very first flight on a jet, with Dan-Dare from Cardiff Airport to exotic destinations such as Jersey and Spain. Still many fond memories of the airline and its people .
You are so right, the safety regulations of today are written in blood from so many victims of previous air crashes, may they all RIP
I travelled from Hong Kong to Heathrow in Novemeber 1963. If I'd have known . . .
It would have been a great help for our understanding to show a map of the accident region, juxtapositing the intended and the actual flight paths.
So in essence this is a sad one. They were doomed. There had been another plane identified where this flight was expected to be. My heart goes out to everyone involved. Families of the deceased etcetera.
another sombre reminder not to take commercial aviation for granted today, as all the rules that we follow are all written in blood.
Just to let you know, but they've been re investigating the metal fatigue on the DeHavilland Comet jet airliners.
And it's been found that the og oitcome for the aircraft was incorrect.
They had so many crashes. Flew them once on a BAC 111.The Comet 4 was safe. Flew them a few times. It was a Charter airline.
Wrong..! They didn't have a lot of crashes.
Oh, I'm an airplane now?! Lol
How do you identify? B777? A330? Cessna? (Joking, dw :) )
@@daonlyzneggalz7522 I'd like to think of myself as a 787-9, the stubbier version of the plane lol
This particular Dan Air format was such a striking, fantastic livery. Along with Varig’s greyish-blue cheatlined with double white pin stripes livery, or United’s Saul Bass 'Rainbow Tulip' livery, it’s one of my all-time favorites! Looks great on the Boeing 727. Modern day airline liveries are so boring, hum-drum, or downright ugly, it’s seriously depressing. Bring back cheatlines Goddamnit!
It would have been important to note that the aircraft involved was a de Haviland COMET 4 and not the original jetliner to which you seem to refer.
The catastrophic history of the original tarnished the reputation of the three successive, larger and more powerful variants a production ended at about the time of this CFIT accident.
The final five were heavily modified military transport and maritime patrol aircraft known as the Nimrod. They remained in Royal Air Force service until 2007!
🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦
Trying to take off with full landing flaps extended is a recipe for disaster. 0:30
Although the aircraft had a transponder the ASR5 radar was a primary radar and just got a signal reflection from the aircraft. There were no labels as there was probably no radar capable of receiving the signal from the transponder.
When you see a hill in the way, pull up.
If you add charts while explaining will be useful
I still find it strange that the square window thing was a misconception. They just plain didn't know how far the plane could go in flight cycles
I'm not to sure if in those day's gyrocompasses were equiped with a slave valve.
If not, like on small aircraft each turn will coase the gyro to precess which the pilot has to correct.
You can't do this during climb, descent, speed changes, or turning. so one might forget (i sure would).
Than an of course track is enevitable
The Smiths Flight System (SFS) was what was probably fitted to a Comet 4 and that definitely was slaved to flux valve compasses in the wingtips. In any case that would not lead to a VOR working incorrectly. The SFS did have one potential error as the required VOR radial was set on a different place to the compass beam bar. If this happened and you were flying outbound from a VOR it would lead to you following the wrong radial. The only obvious evidence on the instruments would be an apparent very large drift. It happened to me once.
@@verdunluck1578 Thanks for the reply.
I'm not to familiar to Smiths integrated systems, I only remember a non integrated setup like on the older Fokker-F27 series.
(Later that was Collins stuff with a SPZ-700 A/P if I remember rightly). All long ago, can't even remember what an aircraft looks like
Why didn't the pilots SEE the mountain? According to the official report(s), at the time of the crash it wasn't yet dark and the mountain wasn't in cloud cover.
Comet was a beautiful aircraft, though
I've also seen some ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS coffins and sarcofagi... Doesn't mean I HAVE to have one of them either... haha ;o)
The Comet 4 was also quieter as heard from the ground than other jet airliners of the 1960s.
Dan Air? As in Northwest Orient Airlines 305?
Our family of 11 should have been on that flight. but we had to reschedule for an earlier date. I feel so bad for the people who took our places. I was 19 years old at the time.
I’m guessing transponders were tube based with no redundancy. A luxury not a necessity.
I have watched so many stories of air crashes that they seem to never end, yet the crashes are not nearly so deadly as the fallout from the combustion of kerosene, gasoline and ten additives. Jet exhaust is slowly but surely demolishing the entire atmospheric blanket around our planet. We need electric aircraft now!
I remember in the 70s, we’d be ask to turn to a heading to radar identify the aircraft.
I was starting High School when this crash happened. I was all over the Washington DC news
You were all over the news for starting high school? Awesome 👏
Edit error it should have been It was all over...
My family friend was killed in that crash of Dan-Air
Difficult to follow this without the use of a map.
Comet 4C Aircraft do not take off with full flap as per initial video split or not.
This was also before language use was completely standardized. That, along with possible language and accent barriers, lack of fluency , would have compiled the navigation errors, along with pilots not wanting to admit that they may not be 100% sure where they sre.
ABEAM Such a word you miss on land
Don't forget to hit that like button 🔘
Reminds me of Varig flight 254 (the 737 that got lost over the Amazon jungle and ran out of fuel)
That’s another improbable tragedy!
Your video description cuts off in the middle of a sentence.
It's a long time ago but still, a terrible story 😔 Well, I guess it would have been extremely quick, no suffocating with smoke inhalation - or burning/bleeding to death. Just gone, in the snap of a finger - like the people on the submersible touring the Titanic recently
.
Please slow down the talking speed to your usual. I love your videos, but i had to rewind several times to comprehend it all which I've never had to do for your videos before.
how did the pilots mess that up so hard
Technically speaking, this accident was in the sixties, not the seventies. Until the year 2000, it was conventional to start each decade on 1st January, xxx1.
Another example of a pilot who when faced with a life & death potential risk factor, wasted precious time with instrument readings that may not be accurate. 112 Passengers end of life finale, instead of a safe final flight landing. History repeating itself !
thank you for your report !! you words are more fluid now 👍👍👍👏👏👏👏 ! could you please transcript in letters the ways point in a map when the report is being told please !! it would be more understandable thank you so much !! even if there is a transcription it does not know these kind of name ! as you know ;👍👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏
Spanish airports were typically very outdated for a long time.
"Macabre" is pronounced like "ma-KAUB."
They were never cleared for the approach! What?
I guess I dont quite understand what happened with this crash. Seems to me the ATCs screwed the pooch hard here, yet it sounds like the pilots are taking the brunt of the blame.
7:58 -- Do you mean 'macabre'?
I love the videos but I struggle to understand you, can you talk slower or clearer please🙌
Why is it that I think the pilots lied to the ATC and crashed the aircraft deliberately?
It was simply an accident no one could predict, I do not believe it was intentional. The methods they used for locational data was very primal and failed very often.
DME in 1970? 😳
Off course = Of course in danger
Hi
🙏😢✈️❣️
Don't make the joke, don't make the joke
how can a pilot fly into a mountain when he can see it coming up for miles this wasn't in the dark looking at this video ?
I don't understand. Can they not see the mountain from the cockpit and turn to avoid it?
it was dark and they had equipment from the 60s
@@michaelpopchuk7432 In July, at 6 pm, it would still be daylight.
Too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence
Dan Air had too many accidents. Old aircraft. Usually other airlines cast offs.