Accident Cessna F177RG Cardinal RG (Reims) G-BGZB, Monday 2 March 1981
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Date:Monday 2 March 1981
Time:c. 22:14 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic C77R model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Cessna F177RG Cardinal RG (Reims)
Owner/operator:Pieter Faber
Registration: G-BGZB
MSN: F177RG0072
Year of manufacture:1973
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:near Glimmen, about 2km from Groningen-Eelde Apt. (GRQ/EHGG) -   Netherlands
Phase: Approach
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Coventry-Baginton Airport (CVT/EGBE)
Destination airport:Groningen-Eelde Airport (GRQ/EHGG)
Investigating agency: RvdL
Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources
Narrative:
02/03/1981 G-BGZB Reims / Cessna F177RG Cardinal RG . The pilot and his three sons were on a flight from Coventry, via Birmingham and Oxford, to Eelde. At 21.05 LT he contacted Eelde TWR and began to approach three minutes later.

During the approach, the visibility wasso bad that he broke off and a restart (at 21.33 LT) because the runway lights could not be seen. The tower cleared him at an altitude of 600 meters for a second approach.

Meanwhile, an NLM CityhopperFriendship ( CITY 449) was cleared to land. The pilot later stated that the second approach the glide path needle of the ILS was not entirely correctly working, it rocked and gave now and then a flag warning. This happened again and he decided again to break off the approach

​At​ 22.12 LT he passed the 'outer marker' (EEL) and this was the last contact with the plane. From the information available it was not possible to accurately reconstruct the flight path.

The pilot stated that during the last part of the approach at all no references from outside could be seen. When approaching the beacon at a glide slope of 20° and let the speed drop to 148 km/hr.

The height was approximately 100m doing he saw, according to the pilots' statement, the 'flap indicator was set to 20°, and then immediately run back to 10 °. The stall warning was heard, he tried the recover the normal position of the aircraft to but then immediately hit the ground near Glimmen, about 2km from Groningen-Eelde Airport (GRQ/EHGG), around 22:14 LT.

A search was started immediately, but the dense fog meant that the site of the wreck was not found until about 23:19 LT. The aircraft was completely destroyed, the pilot and the front passenger were seriously injured, the rear passengers were slightly injured and uninjured respectively.

The pilot had a British pilot license with ratings for Night rating and IMC rating. Night rating is also valid outside England but the IMC rating (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) was not. Moreover, this rating is not the same as Netherlands Instrument MC Rating.

As a result of this accident, the pilot had his licence to fly withdrawn from two years. Registration G-BGZB cancelled by the CAA on 11/3/1981 as "destroyed"

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: RvdL
Report number: 
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-BGZB.pdf
http://www.hdekker.info/Nieuwe%20map/1981.htm#G-BGZB

https://media.abpic.co.uk/pictures/full_size_0571/1869270-large.jpg (photo)

History of this aircraft

Ex PH-RDO

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
17-May-2008 11:10 ASN archive Added
15-Sep-2011 09:31 Uli Elch Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ]
17-Nov-2012 13:42 Dr. John Smith Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
12-Jun-2022 21:45 Ron Averes Updated [Location, ]
29-Sep-2023 08:49 Ron Averes Updated
20-Mar-2025 20:23 RobertMB Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative, Category, ]
31-Aug-2025 09:51 ASN Updated [Accident report, ]

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