Londres-Gatwick – East Midlands

On June 26, 1981 at 06:11 PM, Londres-Gatwick – East Midlands experienced a crash involving Avro 748, operated by Dan-Air London, with the event recorded near Nailstone Leicestershire.

The flight was categorized as postal (mail) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a plain, valley crash site.

3 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The aircraft was engaged on a mail flight from London-Gatwick Airport to East Midlands Airport. During the initial descent in preparation for landing at its destination, the attendant in the cabin reported that the mechanical indicators on one of the cabin doors were showing an unlocked condition. Shortly afterwards the right hand rear door (baggage door) came open, detached from its hinge mountings and became lodged on the leading edge of the right horizontal tailplane. The aircraft became uncontrollable and went into an increasingly steep dive which terminated in several abrupt pitch oscillations. Both the mainplanes and the horizontal tailplanes were subjected to overstressing in upload which resulted in their detachment from the fuselage. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all three crew members were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-ASPL, MSN 1560, year of manufacture 1964.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 52.6597°, -1.3862°.