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Contents.The aircraft The aircraft, operated by, was a de Havilland DH 106 Comet series 4 (registration: G-APDN, construction/manufacturer's serial number: 6415) that had its first flight in 1959. Acquired the aircraft from – its original operator – in 1969. At the time of the accident it had flown 25,786 hours. Accident Flight 1903, which had departed at 16:08 local time, encountered (ATC) delays in the Paris area, resulting in a change of route. Radio contact between the pilot flying the aircraft and Barcelona (ACC) was established at 17:53 local time, following which ACC gave the flightdeck crew clearance to descend from 22,000 feet (6,700 m) to 9,000 ft (2,700 m).
Six minutes later, the flight was handed over to Barcelona ATC (approach control), and acknowledged that Runway 25 was in use at. Approach control cleared the crew to overfly the (NDB) 14 miles (23 km) to the north of Barcelona and descend further to 6,000 feet (1,800 m). This involved turning left to a heading of approximately 140 to intercept the extended centreline of runway 25 at 12 miles (19 km).While carrying out the left turn as instructed, the crew reported in error that they had passed the Sabadell NDB.
Dan-Air Flight 1903: a de Havilland Comet 4 operating a charter flight from Manchester to Barcelona crashed into a mountain near Arbucias in Catalonia in northern Spain on 3 July 1970. The aircraft was destroyed and 105 passengers and seven crew died. Well, Comet Crash innovates. You still do all of the above. UK censor rating, '3+'. Release date, 1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK).
In fact they were still 28 nautical miles north of Sabadell at the time, over the, a mountain range in which the highest peaks rise to over 5,600 ft (1,700 m). As, according to ATC, another aircraft overflew Sabadell at the same time, Barcelona ATC mistook that second aircraft's for that of the Dan-Air Comet and so the handling the Dan-Air flight did not notice the navigational error by the Comet's crew. However, there is no proof that another aircraft overflew the Sabadell beacon at that time. The testament of the air traffic controller remains implausible.
Due to lack of evidence to the contrary, the controller cleared the Dan-Air crew to continue their descent to 2,800 ft (850 m). At approximately 18:05 local time, the aircraft crashed into a group of beech trees on the north-east slopes of the peak at an of about 3,800 ft (1,200 m). At the time of the accident, Les Agudes was under half cloud cover at 2,500 ft (760 m) with good visibility below. The explosion following the impact completely destroyed the aircraft and instantly killed everyone on board. The crash site was located 23 miles (37 km) from Sabadell on a of 45 degrees, where the mountains reach a height of 5,100 ft (1,600 m). After an extensive all-night search over a wide area, rescue teams reached the crash site the following day. The Spanish authorities insisted on an immediate burial of the dead bodies due to public health reasons.
Cause The investigation identified a combination of erroneous information, in relation to en-route reporting points and the existence of a radar echo from another aircraft that overflew the Sabadell NDB at the same time as the Dan-Air crew mistakenly reported passing it, as the accident's probable cause. This combination resulted in an involuntary error on the part of both ATC and aircraft that could not be corrected by the time the air traffic controller realised that his instructions to the aircraft's crew were given in response to a mutual misunderstanding, which resulted from a navigational error on the crew's part that had gone unnoticed. References.
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The 1970 Dan-Air de Havilland Comet airplane crash was a fatal accident involving a de Havilland DH 106 Comet series 4 jet aircraft operated by Dan Air Services Limited on a non-scheduled international passenger service from Manchester to Barcelona. UK tour operator Clarksons Holidays had contracted the aircraft to carry a group of holidaymakers who had booked an all-inclusive package holiday with it. The crash, which occurred on the 3 July 1970 on the wooded slopes of the Sierra del Montseny near Arbucias (Gerona) in Catalonia in northern Spain, resulted in the aircraft's destruction and the deaths of all 112 on board (105 passengers and seven crew).
This was the airline's first fatal accident killing fare-paying passengers. News of the first major accident in the company's 17th year of existence came just two days after UK tour operator Global Holidays had awarded it a four-year, 2.5 million contract for all Global charter flights from Birmingham, beginning in April 1971.