The Staines Air Crash - 50 years on

By Nick Pollard

50 years ago, on 18th June 1972, the worst ever air accident in Britain happened on the outskirts of Staines. (The Lockerbie disaster in 1988 caused more deaths, but was a deliberate act of terrorism). British European Airways flight 548, operated by a Hawker-Siddeley Trident registered G-ARPI (callsign ‘Papa-India’), had taken off from Heathrow bound for Brussels a mere 150 seconds before. It crashed into a field between the A30 Staines bypass and the town itself, just opposite the King George VI Reservoir, narrowly missing high voltage power lines. There was no fire on impact, but one started later during the rescue effort as cutting equipment was used. All 118 people aboard the flight lost their lives, although two people incredibly did survive the immediate impact, a male passenger who later died at nearby Ashford Hospital, and a young girl who died at the scene. The 112 passengers came from all over the world, including 29 Americans, 29 Belgians, 28 British, 12 Irish, four South Africans, three Canadians and one from French West Africa, India, Jamaica, Latin America, Nigeria and Thailand respectively. Ironically, the flight was unusually full for a Sunday as people were travelling early to avoid a pilot’s strike due to start the following day. At the inquest and the official enquiry which followed, the forthcoming strike was found to have indirectly played a part in the accident. The pilot, Captain Stanley Keys, was against the strike, and had had a major argument about it in the crew room before take-off. This was thought to have aggravated an existing heart condition, and it seems he had some kind of medical incident in the time between the argument and the crash. The primary cause however, was a series of seemingly inexplicable mistakes made by the crew. The airspeed fell below that recommended, and the leading-edge flaps which improved lift were retracted too soon. This put the aircraft into a stall, but the automatic stall warnings were ignored, and indeed the crew disabled the stall recovery system, possibly because they failed to realise what the problem was. Whether the Captain was then suffering from his heart problem, and the inexperienced first officer was reluctant to intervene, we shall never know for sure. The presence of a ‘spare’ Captain in the cockpit third seat may have been a distraction too. In fact as a result the installation of cockpit voice recorders was made mandatory in British passenger aircraft. A memorial was placed near the accident site in Waters Drive, Staines, in 2004, as was a stained glass window depicting a dove in St. Mary’s Church in the town. A memorial service was held there on the anniversary.

The crash scene off the A30 at Staines (photo courtesy Barry Dix)

The Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society will have displays at the Chertsey and Shepperton Regatta at Dumsey Meadow on 30th July, and Sunbury Regatta on 13th August. Do come and meet us!

Scenes from the Sunbury Village Jubilee celebrations. The Rotary Hogwarts Express, Orchard Meadow, the stage and the ladies from Sunbury WI. Below faces from the fair, getting into the jubilee spirit