Some more articles which my father just sent me regarding this accident:
"The aircraft was 11 miles short of the runway, over a wooded area on East Hill, just before the town of Ottery St Mary, when it ran out of fuel and all four engines stopped.
Fortunately, the pilot knew the area and was able to bank left and glide over the town's southern edge and make a wheels-up crash-landing in a field.
The aircraft was put down at 19.53 hrs, in daylight, near St Saviours' Bridge, in a small grassy valley studded with trees. The aircraft, which was 27 years old, was written off in the crash. The only casualties were two sheep.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch later concluded that the accident had been primarily caused by the crew's erroneous belief that there was sufficient fuel on board to complete the flight.
The aircraft's unreliable fuel gauges, the company's pilots' method of establishing total fuel quantity and the imprecise company instructions regarding the use of dipsticks, however, were also considered to be major contributory factors. Meter indications on the refuelling vehicle at Santander, which could not have accurately reflected the quantity of fuel delivered, were also considered to have been a probable contributory factor.
The accident investigation report concluded, however, that the aircraft commander's handling of the emergency once the aircraft's four engines stopped had been skilful and assured. Had he not acted in the way he did there could have been a considerable loss of life both for aircraft passengers and for residents of the town.
One of the propellors from the aircraft was later donated by the airline to the town to be auctioned for charity.
Today the town of Ottery St Mary still lies under the flightpath for Exeter Airport. Aircraft regularly pass overhead, mostly Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 Turboprops operated by the UK airline FlyBe, or the occasional Embraer E-195. There are about 20 such landings a day."
and another article:
"Plane thanks
Colin Randall - January 21. 2009 3:51PM
Approaching the door of a cottage on Jersey, one of the islands in the English Channel, I was engulfed by 10 yelping, leaping Welsh springer spaniels.
Anyone who looks after so many of these beautiful creatures is likely to rise in my estimation.
But in the eyes of 61 other people, their friends and families and the wider public, the man on whom I was calling was already a hero.
Twenty-eight years before the “miracle of the Hudson” [US Airways Flight 1549 ditching], Geoffrey Whittaker had averted an air disaster. My thoughts turned to him as I read about the extraordinary events that unfolded in New York after a plane flew into a flock of birds.
As the pilot of a BAe Vickers Viscount 708, flying 58 passengers plus crew from Santander in northern Spain to the south-western English city of Exeter, Capt Whittaker was confronted by total engine failure eight miles short of his destination.
He instantly sent a Mayday distress call, alerted passengers to the emergency and began searching for the least unsuitable place for a crashlanding. It was just after 7.50pm on July 17 1980. Few on board can have been optimistic of still being alive at eight.
But Capt Whittaker brought the plane down with such skill that everyone escaped unhurt. There were two casualties, sheep grazing on the plane’s improvised runway, a field that later became a cricket pitch, in the village of Ottery St Mary. Both reportedly found their way into local deep freezers.
So why was I, a reporter, visiting the pilot at his island home? ...I wished to ask how Capt Whittaker was getting on in his campaign against dismissal from his job.
For the reason the plane had to make a forced landing was that it had run out of fuel. The official accident investigation attributed this to the crew’s “erroneous belief that there was on board sufficient to complete the flight”. The aircraft’s unreliable fuel gauges, inaccurate meter reading on the refuelling vehicle at Santander and a lack of precise instructions from the airline, Alidair, on the use of dipsticks were also described as major contributory factors. Capt Whittaker had been with the handling agents while his co-pilot supervised refuelling. But as commander of the aircraft, he was being held responsible for taking off without enough fuel to complete the flight.
Denied permission to fly, he was concentrating on his dogs, grooming them for competitive shows. What ultimately became of him and his dispute with Alidair, I do not know."
Regards,
David Eyre