Originally Posted by
Midland 331
I think the crews knew about it. My late uncle flew on the fleet as a "flying spanner" at the same time as the loss of 'HG, and he always maintained that the issue was common knowledge.
On reading the latest book on the tragedy ('Six Miles From Home') it appears it was far from common knowledge in BM. It had been noticed on several Argonaughts that up to 200 gallons of fuel somehow moved from No.4 tank to No.3 when parked overnight. This was put down to maintenance staff mishandling the fuel controls.
Hand written notes in the cockpit left by the previous crew to the effect that No.4 fuel gauge was under-reading while No.3 was over-reading or U/S on the Argonaught were common. After one Man - Palma fight in Hotel Golf the P2 suspected a fuel imbalance desp[ite the reported 'faulty' gauges (which were working just fine) but didn't work out why. On final the No.4 fuel pressure fell so he cross fed from No3. On landing, only 14 gallons were found in No.4 tank, yet the total fuel upload was correct for the Man - Palma burn.
There were odd things going on with Argonaught fuel systems but no-one in BM investigated the cause, which was inadvertant cross feed if the cross feed cocks were not FULLY off (the detent had long ago failed).
The Stockport tragedy was, it would seem, entirely avoidable and under today's more rigorous reporting of aircraft problems, would have been.