Middleton Saint George – Birmingham

On December 30, 1963 at 12:00 AM, Middleton Saint George – Birmingham experienced a crash involving De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide, operated by Solair Flying Services, with the event recorded near Edale Derbyshire.

The flight was categorized as aerial photography and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The aircraft was on a flight from Middleton St. George to Birmingham, and the crew of one pilot and one photographer planned to complete several photographic survey jobs en route. Shortly after sunset, when flying at 2,000 ft. a.m.s.l. at an estimated position five miles west of Sheffield and near high ground rising to 2,000 ft. a.m.s.l., the pilot decided that the fuel remaining was insufficient to reach Birmingham with the existing headwind of 40 knots. He established contact with Manchester Approach Control and was given permission to divert to Manchester Airport on a special VFR clearance "not above 3,500 ft. a.m.s.l. on a QNH of 1013 mbs., clear of all cloud, and in sight of the surface". Shortly after this, when on a north-westerly heading to intercept a QDM of 270°M to the 'ME' (Manchester) beacon, the pilot saw hill tops about four miles ahead and commenced climbing from 2,000 ft. to 3,500 ft. The pilot states that the aircraft entered cloud at 2,500 ft. and that, on reaching 2,700 ft., he noticed that the vertical speed indicator was showing a descent of 2,000 ft./min. He states that he applied full power and eased the nose up but, after this, he remembers nothing further until he regained consciousness lying on the ground, alongside the photographer in front of the wrecked aircraft.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-ALBC, MSN 6572, year of manufacture 1948.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 53.3687°, -1.8223°.