As one of four four-engined long-range first-generation airliners, along with the Boeing 707, McDonnell-Douglas DC-8, and Ilyushin Il-62, the Vickers VC10 was one of only two to feature unbroken wings. , stern-mounted Rolls Royce Conway turbofans, and a T-tail to maximize your short-field performance and high lift.
Although it was praised by both passengers and crew members, its overweight and over-engineered design, produced in standard short-body and Super long-body versions, limited its sales to just 54 aircraft, including those of the Royal Air Force. , And he did. a technological success, but a financial failure.
This study looks at your brief accident history.
Aside from initial stall and drag deficiencies found during the VC10’s flight test program, the type experienced few aircraft structure and engine failures, reflecting both its superior engineering and the relatively few in operation.
However, initial problems arose in December 1964 when a landing gear warning light illuminated on a BOAC Standard 1101 while it was executing its approach to Manchester. Although it landed safely after the landing gear was extended by gravity, the anomaly was identified as the gear lock down, which was later modified. The real culprit, however, would appear later.
The same plane issued the same warning three weeks later as it approached Jan Smuts International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. Despite several extension attempts, it did not lock in place. During the circle that followed to burn fuel and reduce the risk of fire after landing, the crew finally managed to lower the gear and landed without incident.
Its more permanent grounding, during which engineers flew in to uncover the real problem, led to the discovery that a corroded shaft had been behind the incident and it was recommended that further corrosion protection be applied later. Although all VC10 operators were informed of the find, there were no further incidents.
Another incident, although relatively minor, occurred on August 9, 1967 when a BOAC Super 1151, en route from Lima, Peru, to New York-JFK, with an intermediate stop in Jamaica, dislodged from a four-inch flap section. eight feet. , which traveled behind the wing and then fell to the ground, piercing the roof of a home at 214 North Street in Manhasset Hills, Long Island. There were no injuries to those in the house or even awareness of those on board, causing Flight 500 to land safely at 7:56 p.m. local time. As the passengers disembarked from what they considered a “routine” fight, the incident attested to the aircraft’s design, as the absence of the flap did not even affect its lift during approach or landing.
Of much greater scope was the air hijacking of September 9, 1970, along with that of a TWA Boeing 707 and a Swissair McDonnell-Douglas DC-8, carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PLFP, in Dawson Field in Jordan. , the single largest-scale event of its kind in history. Since the passengers were allowed to leave the plane, there were no fatalities.
However, the guy suffered two fatal accidents during the 15-year period between 1964 and 1979.
The first of these occurred on November 20, 1969 with the 5N-ABD aircraft operated by Nigeria Airways on a multi-sector flight from London to Lagos with intermediate stops in Rome and Kano. The aircraft itself, the first production standard VC10-1101, had originally been registered as G-ARVA and had served BOAC for five years, between 1964 and 1969. Nigeria Airways only operated it for two months and had 18,431 hours on its shelf. structure in time.
The crew was not lacking in experience. Captain Val Moore, 56, had flown for BOAC in several notable piston and pure jet types, including Halton, York, Hermes, Argonaut, Comet 4, and VC10. Of the 15,173 hours in his logbook, 3,323 of them had been in command of that same Vickers design.
First Officer John Wallis, 30, had also flown the guy with East African Airways for two and a half years. Of its 3,500 hours, 900 had been in the VC10.
Also in the cabin were flight engineer George Albert Baker, 50, and navigator Basil Payton, 49, both serving Nigeria Airways but employed by British United.
All four crew members operated all three sectors.
Flight WT 925 had departed London the night before at 10:10 p.m., experiencing routine operations in both Rome and Kano. But, before leaving the latter city, the captain requested 30,000 kilos of additional fuel, fearing that the civil unrest currently plaguing Lagos would prevent his disembarkation and force his return from Kano.
Takeoff for the short 66-minute segment at 06:24 resulted in an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of 07:28.
At 07:11, or six minutes after the aircraft made its initial air traffic control (ATC) contact, it requested descent clearance from its current altitude of 35,000 feet to 14,000 feet, the latter to avoid interference from a Fokker F. departing from Lagos. 27 Friendship turboprop. After visually checking and passing the Nigeria Airways quad-jet, the VC10 was given more permission to descend and hold 5,000 feet.
His subsequent request for a direct approach to Runway 19 was granted, although he was required to report that it reached 2,200 feet.
Misunderstanding of local weather conditions appears to have played a crucial factor in the event. While the airport was under clear skies, the area around it was not. Thick fog, from tree canopy level to about 2,000 feet, covered the ground a mile to the north, and poor visibility soared to 5,000 feet.
Descending 2,200 feet at 07:29, the VC10 complied with its earlier report request and was asked to do so again by the tower when it reached a point six miles from landing. No further transmissions were received.
Shortly after the 08:05 departure of two Nigerian Air Force planes from Lagos, they saw smoke rising through the clouds on the access route to runway 19.
Nearly in its final landing configuration, with 35 degrees of trailing edge fin, extended landing gear, and a 6.7-degree nose-up tailplane, the 5N-ABD aircraft had grazed the treetops. 207 feet above the ground, shedding his number two and three. port side flaps and left main landing gear bogie. After another 350 feet, she lost her entire port wing.
Running through three more trees in the next 250 feet, it lost more of its structure – in this case, fin panels number two, three, and four on the right wing. After covering a distance of 1,700 feet from its initial impact with a tree, it impacted the ground in a nose-up, left wing-down profile, losing its tail and four aft-mounted engines, before the rest of the aircraft stopped. 300 feet beyond this point.
The broken fuel in the tanks ignited a fire with no survivors.
Although the aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder and the definitive cause in the sequence of events that led to the destruction of the aircraft was not determined, it evidently failed to clear obstructions in its approach path and monitor its altitude and The rate of fall during what was, but should not have been, a visual approach during Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) at the end of a tri-sector height flight, placing the crew on the sidelines of their legal duty time.
The second fatal accident of the VC10 occurred three years later, on April 18, 1972, when a Super 1154, registered 5X-UNA with 18,586 hours in its frame, crashed during takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
When operating East African Airways Flight EC 720 to Rome and finally London, it was granted commissioning clearance at 09:21 and subsequently followed taxiway east to runway 07. It was reported that the winds were out of varying directions at five knots.
Cleared for takeoff at 09:38:40, it executed its acceleration roll. But, just before it reached its V1 speed, or the moment its takeoff had to be aborted or continued, it passed through a steel cat shed left by a Cessna 185 with its nose wheel, resulting in perforation. vehicle. to the right of your two tires. The cabin crew experienced the collision as a severe shock and vibration.
The nose rose briefly, but fell back to the ground.
Interrupting takeoff, the captain returned the throttles to idle and operated the thrust reversers, while the T-tail quad-jet veered slightly to the right and one of the main gear wheels exploded. Now turning to the left, it hit an embankment, causing the port wing to rise momentarily and then intercept the steel lattice approach light stile from runway 25.
The impact, which ruptured the 1A fuel tank, unleashed a cascade of flaming liquid as the aircraft fell 10.6 meters to lower ground beyond the runway and broke. Eight of the 11 crew members and 35 of the 96 passengers died.
According to the investigation report, “The accident was due to a partial loss of braking effort derived from the incorrect reassembly of a part of the braking system, so that the aircraft could not be stopped within the remaining emergency distance after a properly executed abandoned take-off procedure. “