Glasgow – Kirkwall

On October 25, 1979 at 03:20 PM, Glasgow – Kirkwall experienced a crash involving Vickers Viscount, operated by Guernsey Airlines, with the event recorded near Kirkwall Orkney.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

51 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 51 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 47, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Following an unstable approach, the aircraft touched down initially on its starboard main landing wheels to the left of the centre line, drifting to the right, then n°4 propeller struck the runway. The aircraft bounced and about three seconds later it touched down again on its starboard wheels, striking the runway for the second time to the left of the centre line with n°4 propeller. The commander then called for full power, not knowing that the aircraft was damaged, the copilot however, did not apply any power because he was aware that damage has been sustained. The aircraft diverged to the right, it left the runway then ran parallel along the grass until it crossed the intersecting runway paving where the nose landing gear collapsed. The aircraft came to rest on water-logged grass near the right hand edge of runway 25 and the commander ordered an evacuation which was carried out without injury. There was no fire and the airport fire and rescue services arrived promptly.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-BFYZ, MSN 69, year of manufacture 1955.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 58.9796°, -2.9614°.