ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 17938
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| Date: | Tuesday 22 October 1996 |
| Time: | 21:50 LT |
| Type: |  Aérospatiale AS 355F1 Ecureuil II |
| Owner/operator: | MGA Aviation / Polo Aviation |
| Registration: | G-CFLT |
| MSN: | 5024 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1981 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Middlewich, Cheshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Bolton, Lancashire |
| Battersea Heliport (EGLW) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On 22 October 1996, Chelsea Football Club Vice Chairman Matthew Harding, together with the pilot Michael Goss, and three others on board - journalist John Bauldie, company director Tony Burridge, and Raymond Deane - were killed when their AS355 F1 Squirrel, registration G-CFLT, crashed at Norcraft Farm, near Middlewich, Cheshire, and caught fire on impact.
Per the official AAIB accident report: "The accident occurred when the helicopter was returning to London from a private landing site in Bolton, Lancashire with one pilot and four passengers on board. The aircraft was being flown at night in visual contact with the ground when the pilot decided to climb to a higher altitude. During the climb he was deprived of external visual references and the aircraft adopted a steep nose-up attitude during which the airspeed reduced below the minimum recommended speed for instrument flight. This unintentional manoeuvre then developed into a fast, spiral descent. The helicopter did not recover from the dive and it crashed into a field on the outskirts of Middlewich, broke up and caught fire. The accident was not survivable and all five occupants were killed."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/4-1997-aerospatiale-as355f1-twin-squirrel-g-cflt-22-october-1996
2. http://www.peekhelicopters.co.uk/not_used/helicopter_crashes/matthew_harding/g-cflt_crash_report.pdf
3. http://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-registration/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS355#Accidents_and_incidents
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/35069.stm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 20-Mar-2011 14:58 | harro | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 20-Oct-2012 09:26 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Jul-2014 18:07 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Sep-2014 15:25 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Nature] |
| 01-Jul-2017 14:48 | Aerossurance | Updated [Location, Destination airport] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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