Skyways Coach Air Accident in 1965

[wasdale]

I have been trying to find any information about the accident to Skyways
C-47 G-AMWX which ditched off the French coast at Le Treport late at night on 17th December 1965. A friend of mine was a passenger returning from honeymoon but he never did discover the cause of the accident nor any result of an investigation.
Any info on this or where I might look?

[foxile]

Basic info here (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19651217-0&lang=en) with a reference that might help.

[wasdale]

Thanks. I did find that one, but can't find a way to chase up the ICAO reference.

[welkyboy]

I might able to shed some light on the Dak G-AMWX landing on the beach.
I worked at Lympne as an ATCO in the 60s and talked to the crew about accident several times after.
The flight was operating from Beauvais to Gatwick as Lympne was closed because of waterlogging and low stratus. This was commom place in the winter months and normally we used to transfer the whole operation to Lydd. As the flight was operating late evening and the forecast for Lydd was as bad as Lympne and it meant keeping Lydd open out of hours the flight was planned to Gatwick.
During the flight the aircraft suffered a complete electrical failure caused by the main fuse blowing and this was situated in a position that was unaccessible to the crew(the situation was subsequently resolved on all other C47s on British register by the then CAA). As the aircraft now had no radio communication with ATC and the weather actual at Gatwick was a cloud base of 700ft, the pilot (Capt.Tom McEvoy) decided to descend over the Enlish Channel by dead reckoning and attempt to fly back to Beauvais in VMC where the weather was marginally better. The controllers at Lympne and Lydd were alerted by London ATCC who could see the aircraft on radar, and put the runway lights on
Lympne's visability at the time was 100meters so there was little chance of landing there, and due to a staff christmas party at Lydd it took time to get thru to the controllers to convince them that this was a genuine emergency and not a hoax. Meanwhile the aircraft descended over the sea and gained visual contact with a lighthouse on the French coast, the crew flew up and down the coastline trying to ascertain their position to try and find Le Touquet or fly visually back to Beauvais. they could not accurately ascertain their position so decided to force land in the surf on the beach just with the aid of the light from the lighthouse. The pilots notes recommend that when ditching a C47 the left hand seated pilot should vacate the seat and aircraft landed from right hand seat(this because when the props hit the water the blades shear off and penerate the fuselage right in line with the pilots seat)
the Captain decided against this but sent the first officer back to the cabin and landed the aircraft single handed on the beach, wheels up just on the edge of the water. As it transpired a prop blade did shear off and hit the rear of the pilots seat but Capt.McEvoy was thrown forward and the blade missed him! The aircraft was evacuated safely and all the baggage was also removed.No one was injured, but the next morning the only recognizable peices of the aircraft were the engines, the rest was smashed up by the waves as the tide came in.
Hope this is useful

[wasdale]

Very many thanks for that. Most interesting and my friend will be most grateful to know the details.
I was on the BUAF B170 Frighteners at Lydd from 1967-1968, but don't recall hearing mention of this at all.
Aaah. the good old days!!:{

[greenviewpark]

I have been trying to find any information about the accident to Skyways
C-47 G-AMWX which ditched off the French coast at Le Treport late at night on 17th December 1965. A friend of mine was a passenger returning from honeymoon but he never did discover the cause of the accident nor any result of an investigation.
Any info on this or where I might look?

In 1965 during the time of this event I purchased my very first house from Capt, Tom McEvoy, at Brabournre Lees Kent, at the time he lived in Hythe, so imaging my surprise when I picked the newspaper to read of the forced landind, up to then I did'nt know he was a pilot. For years I kept the front page of the Daily Express with headlines on this event, sadly I now cannot find it.

Dusty

[Talkdownman]

I once got chatting to a pilot on Exeter Station. We boarded the same train and it turned out he was the co-pilot on this flight. Small world, innit? I recall his name as Dave Tate. He may even be out there on PPRuNe somewhere!

[Prince of Dzun]

welkyboy;
I find what you say about the DC3 pilot's notes recommending the Captains seat be vacated during a planned ditching interesting. The three different airlines I flew the DC3 for did not mention this procedure in their operating manuals and I have spoken to two collegues with high time on DC3s and they say they have never heard of it. Is this a case of the DC3 still having a secret after all these years or is it just the views of some chief pilot. Do you know if vacating the seat is a Douglas recommendation? Any other old timers who flew the DC3 care to comment.
Prince of Dzun.

[gruntie]

Prince, mention is made of this in this (http://www.mccrow.org.uk/EastAfrica/East_Arican_Airways/Tommyaccount.htm) tragic account of an incident with EAA.

[Newforest]

Prince, mention is made of this in this (http://www.mccrow.org.uk/EastAfrica/East_Arican_Airways/Tommyaccount.htm) tragic account of an incident with EAA.

Well before the days of CRM!:hmm:

[Prince of Dzun]

gruntie;
That was an awfull accident the description of which seems to be saying that there was power on the port engine when the propellor blades hit the ground. The extra power could have caused the separation whereas with idle power it may not have occurred. I know of a DC3 that carried out a forced ditching in Botany Bay[Sydney Australia] and when the aircraft hit the water both engines were at idle. The propellor blades stayed on and all the passengers and crew escaped unharmed. Years earlier a DC3 taking off from the same airport !! had engine failure just after lift off and the good engine was closed down. They crashed onto a golf course adjacent to the airport and all the blades stayed on . Every one escaped. I'd sure like to know what Douglas as the makers recomended.
Prince of Dzun.

[BugSpeed]

Gents,

It transpires that PPRUNE as well as sport and music can bridge the generation gap.

After finding this thread on Google I couldn't stop laughing for a couple of minutes.

My mum has told me the Le Treport story a few times and I beleive that Capt McEvoy ended up at ABZ for Brymon (possibly? The Brymon types at work certainly knew him). The old dear was groundside for Skyways and was, in fact, the face of the Paristocrat Service adverts! Mum ended up as the first female station manager in the country with Dan-Air at Lydd. (Then was the sensible side to my dads parachute club at Lympne from the mid 70's)

Greenviewpark: I think she has got a copy of the incident around somewhere; will have a look.

Indeed, she has got site photos of HS748 G-ARMV that got caught in low level windshear and ripped one wing off INBOARD of the engine nacelle!

As for me, well, the aviation business rubbed off on me too. F/O with BACON at BHX.

Yours,

BS

[Prince of Dzun]

Bugspeed;
Are you serious? Music does not bridge the generation gap, it widens it.
Prince of Dzun.