Tonic Please said...
'Reminds me of the 727 (i think) aircraft that crashed on departure from Heathrow back in the 70s.(27L/R runways - it hit ashford or somewhere west of airfield I know that) Dad was one of the first people on the scene!!'
Captain had heart attack just after takeoff. Confusion on the flight deck led to the Trident deep stalling into a postage stamp field near Staines by-pass and missed the 150,000 volt pylons by just a few feet. Virtually no forward velocity and full fuel [ nearly] it did not catch fire but the massive vertical G component killed everyone. Sad thing was the BBC and Independant Radio had to keep broadcasting on all their radio/TV channels for ghoolish rubberneckers to get the f**k out of the way as Fire, Police and Ambulances couldn't get to the scene! Then the souvenir hunters moved in - some sick people were out there that week. Made me sad to be a Brit for a while.
That one accident made the CAA paranoid about cardiac assessment from then on.
Aviate 1138