London - Belfast

On January 8, 1989 at 08:25 PM, London - Belfast experienced a crash involving Boeing 737-400, operated by British Midland Airways - BMA, with the event recorded near East Midlands Leicestershire.

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

126 people were known to be on board, 47 fatalities were recorded, 79 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 37.3%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 118, passenger fatalities: 47, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. British Midland Airways Flight BD092 took off from London-Heathrow Airport at 1952LT on a flight to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Some 13 minutes later, while climbing through FL283, moderate to severe vibration was felt, accompanied by a smell of fire in the cockpit. The outer panel of one of the n°1 engine fan blades detached, causing compressor stalls and airframe shuddering. Believing the n°2 engine had been damaged the crew throttled it back. The shuddering stopped and the n°2 engine was shut down. The crew then decided to divert to East Midlands Airport. The flight was cleared for an approach to runway 27. At 900 feet, 2.4 nm from the runway threshold, the n°1 engine power suddenly suffered a decrease in power. As the speed fell below 125 knots, the stick shaker activated and the aircraft struck trees at a speed of 115 knots. The aircraft continued and impacted the western carriageway of the M1 motorway 10 meters lower and came to rest against a wooded embankment, 1'023 meters short of runway threshold. 47 passengers were killed while all other occupants were injured, some of them seriously.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-OBME, MSN 23867, year of manufacture 1988.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 52.8281°, -1.3327°.