Status:
Date:	25 DEC 1954
Type:	Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-28
Operator:	BOAC
Registration:	G-ALSA
C/n / msn:	15943
First flight:	1949
Crew:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 11
Passengers:	Fatalities: 24 / Occupants: 25
Total:	Fatalities: 28 / Occupants: 36
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	near Glasgow-Prestwick Airport (PIK) (United Kingdom)
Phase:	Landing (LDG)
Nature:	Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	London (unknown airport), United Kingdom
Destination airport:	Glasgow-Prestwick Airport (PIK/EGPK), United Kingdom

Narrative:
The Stratocruiser was high on the approach to Prestwick. The aircraft entered a steep descent, but flare out came too late. Following a heavy landing, the plane ran onto the runway, became airborne and crashed.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "Errors of judgement on the part of the captain in a) starting his final approach to land at too steep an angle and b) flaring out too late and too severely with the result that the aircraft sank and hit the ground short of the runway. During the flare out the aircraft passed through low cloud, thus reducing the captain's visibility. The accident was also contributed to by the failure of the first officer to carry out the order of the captain to put on the landing lights which prevented the captain from observing timeously the low cloud over the approach lights."

Sources:
» ICAO Accident Digest, Circular 47-AN/42 (211-219)