Accident description
Last updated: 22 May 2013
| Status: | |
| Date: | 08 APR 1955 |
| Type: | Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador 2 |
| Operator: | British European Airways - BEA |
| Registration: | G-AMAB |
| C/n / msn: | 5224 |
| First flight: | 1952 |
| Engines: | 2 Bristol Centaurus 661 |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 47 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 53 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 9 km (5.6 mls) SW of Düsseldorf Airport (DUS) (Germany) |
| Phase: | En route (ENR) |
| Nature: | International Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Düsseldorf Airport (DUS/EDDL), Germany |
| London (unknown airport), United Kingdom |
Some 6 minutes after takeoff from Düsseldorf the no. 1 propeller went into reverse. The prop could not be feathered, so the pilot-in-command decided to return to the airport. The approach had to be abandoned due to low clouds and control problems. A missed approach procedure was carried out, but altitude was lost. High tension wires ahead forced the captain to extend the flaps to 20deg to lift over them. This evasive manoeuvre worked, but the aircraft then stalled and crashed.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was due to a) the propeller of the left-hand engine going into brake position during climb. The technical reason for this occurrence so far has not been found; b) the weather which made the approach rather difficult. In good weather conditions the landing would probably have been successful." Events:
Sources:
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This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Networks opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
