ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 28698
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Sunday 15 August 1993 |
| Time: | 07:05 LT |
| Type: |  Piper PA-31-310 Navajo C |
| Owner/operator: | Stapleford Tawney Air Taxis |
| Registration: | G-SEAS |
| MSN: | 31-7912017 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1978 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Pewley Down, near Guildford, Surrey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Stapleford, Essex (EGSG) |
| Southampton, Hampshire (EGHI) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Built 1978-79: Ex-N27840 (US Registry), to LN-BGC (Norwegian Registry) 24 June 1981 with Solheim-Fly Skytaxi, to OY-CED on 7 May 1984 to September 1989. First UK registered as G-SEAS on 11-9-1989. Written off (destroyed) on 15 August 1993 Piper Navajo G-SEAS left Stapleford Airfield at about 06:45, with just a pilot (who held a CPL with instrument rating) on board, to fly to Southampton to pick up passengers. The flight was uneventful until about 07:05, when the Navajo was over Ockham at about 1500 feet. One witness, a PPL holding with a twin rating (so he should have known that about which he was talking), said he saw the Navajo coming out of cloud, at about 800 feet, in a steep dive at high speed and that no effort was made to pull out of the dive before the Navajo hit the ground on Pewley Down, on the southern outskirts of Guildford.
Three other witnesses saw the Navajo hit the ground, one of whom expressed the opinion that it flew into the ground without any change in attitude or apparent engine power output. The Navajo was destroyed on impact (its registration being cancelled by the CAA on 11 November 1993) and the pilot was killed. The crash site was on grassland about 400 feet high. The wreckage was spread over an area of about 160 feet from that. The wing tanks being ruptured, when they contained significant amounts of fuel, fed the intense fire that broke out after impact. This further degraded the wreckage that remained for examination by the AAIB when it was taken to Farnborough for reassembly.
The AAIB carried out a detailed investigation and produced a report. It opined that the Navajo's angle of descent had been 30-35º to the horizontal and its speed had been in excess of its maximum permitted speed of 236 knots. Furthermore the impact evidence showed nothing to indicate that any attempt had been made to pull out of the dive. The AAIB could find no evidence of any pre-impact failure or defects in the Navajo's airframe, engines, control surfaces or control systems. Nor could it find evidence of a bird strike.
The Navajo had a problematic autopilot, but the AAIB investigation found no evidence that this was engaged before the crash. Neither was there any evidence to suggest a likelihood of the pilot having medical problems that might have incapacitated him and his mental state appeared to be in equilibrium, according to those who had seen him immediately prior to his departure from Stapleford. Furthermore none of his radio transmissions gave any hint of their being a problem in flight. The weather had been fine - no mist, fog or rain - with a cloud base of about 1200 feet (although the pilot held an instrument rating, so IFR flying should not have been a problem to him).
There was a coroner's inquest. It delivered an open verdict. I suspect that this crash always will remain an enigma. Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "aircraft destroyed". As a result, the registration G-SEAS was cancelled by the CAA on 11-11-1993 as aircraft "destroyed"
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422eb32e5274a1317000059/Piper_PA-31_Navajo__G-SEAS_03-94.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=SEAS
3. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-piper-pa-31-310-navajo-c-guildford-1-killed
4. http://rzjets.net/aircraft/?page=4&typeid=269
5. http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-SEAS.html
6. http://www.oy-reg.dk/register/1468.html
7. G-SEAS when Norwegian registered as LN-BGC July 1981: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Solheimfly/Piper-PA-31-310-Navajo-C/1682079/L
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 14-Sep-2012 17:27 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Damage, Narrative] |
| 17-May-2016 18:27 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Nov-2020 20:23 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Accident report] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation