January 1975 to July 1976
Alidair
G-AZNH - c/n 342 - a V.814 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
10 January 1975
Purchased from the Air Force of the Sultanate of Oman (AFSO). The sale was brokered through Airwork Services Limited.
31 January 1975
Delivered from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Dorset, England to East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England.
14 March 1975
Registered to Alidair. This registration had previously been used by Airwork Services Limited but was never applied to the aircraft.
27 March 1975
Test flown from East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England and a Certificate of Airworthiness issued.
29 March 1975
Rolled out in full Alidair livery at East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England.
31 March 1975
First flight in full Alidair livery from East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England.
1 April 1975
Entered service with Alidair from East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England. The aircraft was fitted out with a 44 seat VIP interior including an 8 seat lounge area for executive charters. The charter rates were comparable to a Hawker Siddeley HS125 executive jet which could only carry 8 passengers.
29 July 1975
Operated a special 25th anniversary flight from RAF Northolt, Middlesex, England to Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France in celebration of the original BEA flight carried out by the prototype Viscount G-AHRF (C/N 1).
2 September 1975
Ferried to Dyce Airport, Aberdeen, Scotland for operation by Alidair's Scottish services.
Damaged at Guernsey
Channel Islands
14 September 1975
Damaged at Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands at 09:00 local time after the nose undercarriage leg collapsed during the landing in a crosswind on Runway 27. There were no injuries to the 4 crew and 78 passengers on board, who were evacuated down ladders at the rear of the aircraft. The pilot in charge was Captain John Taylor and the two Stewardesses were Mrs Yvette Rowland and Miss Kate Liver who were later seen smiling for a press photographer inside the terminal building.
The aircraft was operating a charter flight on behalf of the East Midlands Area Retail Fruit Trade Association including its Chairman Mr F T Strange who was sitting at the front of the cabin. Also on board as a passenger was Captain Roger J Dadd, the managing director of Alidair, who was seated at the rear of the cabin. He was visiting Guernsey on business.
After the accident Mr Strange described the landing; "The plane shot up and bounced like hell. It hit the deck like a ton of bricks and bounced up again. No bones were broken but people were frightened to death and were still shaking when they reached the terminal building. We felt the plane swinging from left to right. The nose portion was right down and when we got out we saw that all the tips of the propellers were buckled. Smoke was coming from near the nose of the aircraft but there was no flames so we got down a ladder".
Captain Dadd was interviewed afterwards and said that despite the strong crosswind the windspeed at the time of the landing was well within the capabilities of the aircraft and that stronger winds were encountered in the north of Scotland without difficulty. He said that it was not yet known why the nose undercarriage leg folded up.
Subjected to a
full investigation
The aircraft blocked the runway for four hours causing major disruptions to the airport, which reopened in the afternoon, although Aurigny still managed to operate their Britten-Norman Trilanders due to their short-field performance. After the aircraft was removed from the runway it was taken to a suitable area and subjected to a full investigation by Department of Trade and Industry accident investigators.
The cause of the nose undercarriage leg collapse was found to be a sheared supporting 'A' frame which was already cracked at the time of the landing. Captain Dadd stated that the crack must had started fairly recently as the area was fully inspected during a routine maintenance check about 20 to 30 flying hours ago as it was already a known weakness. He also stated that repairs would cost in the region of £80,000 but that the aircraft was fully insured.
February 1976
Returned to service after extensive repairs to the nose area and fitment of replacement propellers and repaired Dart engines. The repairs took much longer than expected, as the original estimate was two and a half months from the time of the accident.
UK Industrial Tribunal report January 1977
The decision from UK Industrial Tribunal was of interest to aircrews, particularly those who fly out of Britain.
In the case of Taylor versus Alidair, that resulted from the Viscount accident in Guernsey in September 1975. The aircraft, owned and operated by Alidair and flown by Captain John
Taylor, bounced on landing and the nose undercarriage collapsed. The aircraft was seriously damaged but nobody was hurt.
Captain Taylor's competence had earlier been questioned and he had spent some time under the supervision of two training captains, who both assessed him as above average. He returned to regular flying duties ten days before the accident.
The subsequent investigation revealed that Captain Taylor made an unskilled landing which caused the bounce; that both the rear A-frame drag members of the nosegear mounting
structure failed; and that longstanding cracks had been found in the nosegear mounting structure. These points were agreed by all sides, but one question remained in dispute: did
the nosegear fail more as a result of fatigue than because Captain Taylor mishandled the recovery from the bounce? The co-pilot for the flight on which the accident occurred was
one of the training captains who had earlier supervised Captain Taylor, and his evidence contained no comment on Taylor's handling of the aircraft. Nevertheless, Captain Taylor was dismissed as a result of the company's independently chaired inquiry.
He then complained of unfair dismissal to the Employment Tribunal, which found that he had made "an error of judgement of a type which can occur from time to time with even
the most experienced pilot, not something justifying dismissal" and that the conduct of the original investigation had been unsatisfactory.
Alidair took this decision to the Appeal Court, where it was reversed. The Appeal Court judge, Mr Justice Bristow, said: "In our judgement there are activities in which the degree
of professional skill which must be required is so high, and the potential consequences of the smallest departure of that high standard are so serious, that one failure to perform in accordance with those standards is enough to justify dismissal."
As the law now stands, pilots employed in Great Britain can face dismissal if they make any small error of judgement. Moreover, it seems that the degree of error need not amount to negligence.
3 July 1976
Leased to Cyprus Airways.
|
