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Old 6th Jul 2020, 03:19
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Commander Taco
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 161
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I was 15 at the time and remember the accident well. A bright blue sunny and beautiful day in Toronto. And then the airwaves full of news about an accident.

Captain Peter Hamilton was 49 years old. He had flown the Halifax during the war, had been decorated and had spent time as a POW after being shot down. What a stupid way to die - survive the war (and being shot down at night) only to die in an airplane light years more modern and safer in a peacetime environment.

The last words on the CVR are haunting. After the F/O inadvertently deployed the ground spoilers at ~60’AGL:

Captain: “No! No! No!”
F/O: “Sorry Pete, oh sorry!”
(sound of impact)
F/O: “Sorry Pete”.

Two and a half minutes later during the go-around, a series of explosions destroyed the right wing with one more:

F/O: “Sorry Pete”.

https://www.tailstrike.com/050770.htm

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