Birmingham – Norwich

On November 27, 1985 at 05:44 PM, Birmingham – Norwich experienced a crash involving Cessna 404 Titan, operated by Donington Aviation, with the event recorded near Birmingham West Midlands.

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

12 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 12 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: 11, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

After a standard engine start the aircraft was taxied to runway 33 and, at 1743 hours, was cleared for takeoff and departure for Norwich. The pilot has stated that the initial takeoff acceleration appeared to be normal and that all engine power instruments were indicating in the green area. At an indicated airspeed of 100 knots he raised the nose and the aircraft lifted off the runway, however there was no further increase in airspeed. He retracted the landing gear and lowered the nose to attempt to gain more airspeed. At this time the airspeed had reduced to 90 knots and the pilot felt some vibration from the elevators. Realising that the aircraft would neither climb nor accelerate, the pilot selected what he hoped was a clear area in which to carry out a 'landing gear up' crash landing. All 12 occupants were injured, three of them seriously.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-BKTJ, MSN 404-0236, year of manufacture 1978.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 52.4783°, -1.8983°.