BEA Flight 548 Crash, Trident Accident, Staines Crash,

BEA Flight 548 Crash, Trident Accident, Staines Crash, #BEA_flight548_crash, #staines_crash
This is story of BEA Flight 548 Crash, involving Trident aircraft. On 18th of June 1972, BEA flight 548 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport, bound for Brussels. But just minutes into the flight, something went terribly wrong. The Trident aircraft stalled and fell from the sky, crashing to earth in a field in the quiet town of Staines; none of the 118 people on board survived. Although the public clamored for answers over what was then the deadliest plane crash on British soil, investigators had little evidence to work with.
But there was plenty of intrigue: an old captain and young first officer; a critical lever pulled at the wrong time; a safety system overridden; a mysterious note making fun of the captain; a heated argument over a strike.

[@jeffsimon9594]

Best clip I have seen on this incident. There are some terrible misinformed amateurish animation clips on Flight 548 with squillions of views, go figure..

[@Dackah]

The accident , at the time, was known as the Papa India crash as I remember as a young boy with a keen interest in aviation. My own belief is that the two pilots at the rear of the cockpit, co-pilot Ticehurst and Captain Collins (positioning on the jump seat) were in some sort of distraction, perhaps a joke about Key- Collins was later found dead over the centre console with an aerosol can in his hand-a kind of air freshener that cargo captains were issued with). After take-off, judging by his radio transmissions, Key may have been in what is known as a "subtle" incapacitation. Contrary to today's SOP's, pilot flying did the radios. So when Key replied to ATC "up to 6000" , his reply was non-standard and seemingly strained-I believe at that point he reached across and raised the droop lever (should have been co-pilots job to raise it but he was bypassed ) to get to FL60 expeditiously-but in his confused state forgot the speed he was at.
Crucially, Collins and Ticehurst missed this at that moment.
Co-pilot Keighley, very inexperienced, and having witnessed the outburst of Key in the crew-room, would not have dared question it. All they had to do was redeploy the droop lever, but the two who were most likely to have done so, missed the opportunity to do so. Key, in a confused state, dumped the stick pusher system, and then the aircraft nose came up immediately into the super-stall and it was all over.
Speculation?-yes, I suppose-but having spent years at the pointy end,, I believe it fits the events.

[@aviationsafetyguru8561]

Outstanding commentary on likely possibility. I am grateful for sharing your assessment. Bravo 👏

[@Dackah]

@@aviationsafetyguru8561 You are very welcome!-just my tuppence worth, but when you have spent such a long time in the cockpit , you understand better what can go on-and what can go wrong, esp with regard to the human factor aspect.