Status:	Final
Date:	24 MAY 1995
Time:	17:51
Type:	Embraer 110P1 Bandeirante
Operator:	Knight Air
Registration:	G-OEAA
C/n / msn:	110256
First flight:	1980
Total airframe hrs:	15348
Engines:	2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34
Crew:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Passengers:	Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
Total:	Fatalities: 12 / Occupants: 12
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	10 km (6.3 mls) NE of Leeds/Bradford Airport (LBA) (United Kingdom)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Leeds/Bradford Airport (LBA/EGNM), United Kingdom
Destination airport:	Aberdeen-Dyce Airport (ABZ/EGPD), United Kingdom
Flightnumber:	816

Narrative:
Flight NE816 took off from Leeds-Bradford runway 14 at 17:47 LT in stormy weather. Two minutes after take-off the crew reported problems with their artificial horizon. When returning to the airport at 3600 feet the crew had severe problems in maintaining their heading. At 17:51 the aircraft entered a left turn, lost height rapidly and broke up partly before crashing into a farmland. On 15:01.96 the P2 artificial horizon of Bandeirante G-OEAB failed.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The following causal factors were identified:
i) One or, possibly, both of the aircraft's artificial horizons malfunctioned and, in the absence of a standby horizon, for which there was no airworthiness requirement, there was no single instrument available for assured attitude reference or simple means of determining which flight instruments had failed.
ii) The commander, who was probably the handling pilot, was initially unable to control the aircraft's heading without his artificial horizon, and was eventually unable to retain control of the aircraft whilst flying in IMC by reference to other flight instruments.
iii) The aircraft went out of control whilst flying in turbulent instrument meteorological conditions and entered a spiral dive from which the pilot, who was likely to have become spatially disoriented, was unable to recover." (AAIB)

Sources:
» Commuter/Regional Airline News International 29/5/95(1-2)
» Flight International 31.5-6.6.95(13)
» Flight Safety Follow-up action on occurrence report 2/96
» Times 26.5.95(4)