Aer Lingus Viscount accident--off Strumble

[narnia]

Ei-aom Viscount Training Dives

I was flying Aer Lingus Viscount EI-AOM on a training detail about a week before it crashed at Tuskar Rock. We were on a conversion course after basic training and we conducted high speed dives at the ground from 13000' before pulling out sharply with positive G. Additonally we used to do level approaches at Rwy 23 Dublin at 1000' and when the runway disappeared under the nose, the training Captain would close all four engines, and a courageous steep nose-down dive at the runway threshold was necessary to avoid going off the far end, followed by a positive G rotate and landing. I regarded these manoeuvres as highly stressful to the empennage and reported the matter to the last inquiry. I still think it was probably a metal fatigue structural failure of the tailplane or other elements of the empennage that caused the crash.