Britavia

Handley Page H.P.81 Hermes

The aircraft was flying under charter to the Air Ministry and had flown from Idris Airport, Tripoli with a crew of 6 and 74 passengers, nearly all members of servicemen's families. Shortly before midnight, on landing at Blackbushe in poor visibility, the aircraft undershot the runway, hit a beech tree 3,617 feet short of the threshold, swung sharply to port, came down among pine trees about 3,000 feet from the beech tree and caught fire. Three crew members were killed by the impact and four children lost their lives due to fire.

Handley Page H.P.81 Hermes

The approach to Karachi International Airport was attempted in poor weather conditions and a limited visibility due to heavy rain falls. On final, the left windshield wiper failed and the crew did not realized he was approaching Faisal AFB runway 08 instead of Karachi-Intl Airpor runway 07, when the airplane struck the ground and crashed short of runway threshold at Faisal Airbase (Drigh Road). All 72 occupants were evacuated safely while the airplane was damaged beyond repair.