flyawaybird.........

Indeed it was a memorable reunion. My great regret was that there was not enough time to chat to everyone.

Jerry and Erik did a wonderful job........ Congratulations to them both!!!

Help pls
 

Hi
I am looking for any information about this crash. My dad watched this plane take off with a friend of his who had two daughters on board. They witnessed the whole incident and unfortunately the two daughters died.

My father who at the time was with the British embassy had to visit the crash site to aid in the recovery of bodies.

Any information would be gratefully received.

Regards

Guy

Hello Guy,

There is quite a lot of information in this topic itself, but if you want the details then perhaps the official accident report might be of interest. If you follow this link: Incidents and Accidents
then you'll end up on my website where you'll find a short story about the accident and a link to the official report at the bottom of that story.

EAA VC 10 Accident in 1972
 

EAA Reunion

Hi Planemike
We are going to have another EAA Reunion on June 18th, 2015 at the same venue and rates negotiated are only up by GBP3.00 than what we paid last time. The last reunion was a real good success and we couldn't get better organizers than Jerry and Erik. From the plan details, I see, it will be much better than the previous one. :D

flyawaybird..............


Take it you mean 18 June 2016 ?? Really do I hope I receive an invitation to attend this one.....!!!

Jhieminga,

Thanks for the link. I've just read the accident report. It mentions that the investigators were able to tell how much work had been done by each of the brake units. How was that determined?

The report infers that of the cockpit crew, only the FE survived. Is that correct?

India Four Two......

"""The report infers that of the cockpit crew, only the FE survived. Is that correct?"""

See my post No: 42.....

Lost my best friend
 

I was 10 years old and at Warwick boarding school in England. The Easter holidays were over and we were all returning for the new term. My best friend Chris Townshend and his younger brother never made it back. So tragic.

A BBC radio 4 program called Life Changing has just been broadcast in the UK. It features a 30 minute interview with a women who as a young child watched the crash. She was there with her parents to watch her two sisters fly back to the UK for boarding school. Neither of her sisters survived. The interview focuses on the crash and its effect on her and her family. It's very moving and shows how such events have long lasting effects.

The programme is available online, see here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v8w8
I suspect that they looked at the wear on the brake discs and linings. From the original certification testing they will have known how much wear is produced by having a brake unit absorb energy to its maximum capacity. When other units have less wear, you can then compare the levels of wear. It's not precise, but the difference must have been significant enough.

I realise that it's a long time ago that you asked this question, but better late than never.

I heard this programme and found it very informative and sad at the same time. Well worth a listen.

Hi

My Aunt was on that plane she survived the crash but died later. Awful she was 12 also.

Another interesting account here: https://storylines.rafbf.org/cold-wa...ethiopia-1972/ from one of the RAF crewmembers who flew the survivors and their family back to the UK on XR808.

Brake misassembly.
 

Accident investigators found that EAA maintenance staff had "...fitted restrictor pads incorrectly in one brake unit and a transfer unit in another was in it's reverse position. The result was that No.2 brake was being operated by No.1 anti skid and vice versa. This would have reduced braking efficiency slightly but No.2 rear anti skid had a rubber ring where a hydraulic coupling was fitted preventing No.2 anti skid from releasing No.1 brake, causing the tyre to burst. The cross couple would have caused a brake pressure loss of about 70% and the report cited incompetence in engineering as the cause of the failure to stop."

This is quoted from Modern Civil Airliners No.1 by Martin Hedley. Published by Ian Allan books in 1982.

If you scroll back to post #63, you'll find a link to my site and I've got a link there that will take you to the official report on this crash. It has more details about this aspect of the accident.

Just had a look at #63 and it would appear that Mr Hedley had seen the report and just put the bare bones of the event in his book. I spent five happy years on VC10s in Base Hangar at Brize Norton and still have my course notes stashed away somewhere but, after another 20-ish type courses, l don't remember the brake system in much detail.