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| Date: | Tuesday 12 April 1988 |
| Time: | 21:23 |
| Type: |  BAC One-Eleven 531FS |
| Owner/operator: | British Island Airways (BIA) |
| Registration: | G-AYWB |
| MSN: | 237 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1971 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 118 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Location: | London-Gatwick Airport (LGW/EGKK) -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Venice-Marco Polo Airport (VCE/LIPZ) |
| London-Gatwick Airport (LGW/EGKK) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The BAC 1-11 was returning from Venice with a training captain in the right seat as the aircraft commander and a first officer in the left seat undergoing captain conversion training. At the time of the incident the commander was the handling pilot. The weather was good with no low cloud and visibility in excess of 15 km.
The main runway, 08R, had been closed as planned at 2100 hrs for major re-surfacing work and was unlit. The aircraft was being vectored for a visual approach to runway 08L (the emergency runway) and when the co-pilot called "visual" at a range of approximately 7 miles, the aircraft was transferred to the tower frequency and subsequently cleared to land on 08L. The aircraft descended on the glide-path correctly aligned with 08L, using the 08L approach and runway lighting for azimuth reference and the single PAPI for glide path angle. At a height of approximately 750 feet QFE the commander adjusted the heading of the aircraft to realign its track with a line of green lights which he considered to be the centerline of the emergency runway. At the near end of the line of green lights was the red stop bar for the Lima hold which he took to be the emergency runway threshold. It was not until after the aircraft had touched down that he realized that he had landed on taxiway 2 at which point he applied reverse thrust and braking.
A Boeing 737 had meanwhile been cleared to the Lima hold via taxiway 2. As this aircraft turned west onto the taxiway the crew observed the landing lights of an aircraft on short final approach and the commander slowed down when he became doubtful of the landing aircraft's track. He instructed his co-pilot to be ready to pull off the taxiway and, some seconds later, they steered the aircraft off the northern edge of the taxiway onto the grass at the same time as the air traffic controller was also instructing them to pull off to the side.
The nose and right main landing gear of the Boeing 737 went onto the grass but as soon as the left main landing gear left the paved surface the aircraft bogged down leaving the left wing and rear fuselage hanging over the taxiway. The BAC 1-11 was brought to a halt approximately 190 metres short of the Boeing 737. The BAC 1-11 was able to turn around and backtrack along the taxiway before entering runway O8L and taxiing to a stand. The Boeing 737 passengers were disembarked and the aircraft was later towed away.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/542304aeed915d1374000c37/BAC_One-Eleven_Series_531FS__G-AYWB_and_Boeing_737-2U4__EI-BTZ__06-88.pdf
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/5978723 (Photo)
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 29 August 1975 | TI-LRF | Líneas Aéreas Costarricenses (LACSA) | 0 | San José |  |
sub |
| Heavy landing | ||||||
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Mar-2025 11:42 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 28-Mar-2025 11:43 | ASN | Updated [Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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