Manchester - Barcelona

On July 3, 1970 at 06:05 PM, Manchester - Barcelona experienced a crash involving De Havilland DH.106 Comet, operated by Dan-Air London, with the event recorded near Arbúcies Catalonia.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a mountains crash site.

112 people were known to be on board, 112 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 7, passengers on board: 105, passenger fatalities: 105, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Comet G-APDN departed Manchester at 1608 for a charter flight to Barcelona. ATC delays in the Paris area resulted in a different route to be flown. At 1753LT the pilot contacted Barcelona ACC. The aircraft was then cleared to descend from FL220 to FL90. At 1759LT the flight switched to Barcelona Approach. Barcelona Approach cleared the crew direct to the Sabadell beacon and cleared them to descend to FL60. While carrying out a left turn to a heading of 140°, as instructed by Barcelona Approach, the crew mistakenly reported passing the Sabadell NDB. At that time another aircraft overflew Sabadell, causing the error to go unnoticed by the controller. The controller then cleared the Comet to descend to 2,800 feet. At approx. 1805LT the aircraft struck beech trees on the northeast slopes of the cloud-covered Les Agudes peak at an altitude of about 3,800 feet and crashed. The wreckage was found in the Sierra del Montseny, near the village of Arbúcies. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 112 occupants have been killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-APDN, MSN 6415, year of manufacture 1959.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.8161°, 2.5141°.