Incident Overview

Date: Thursday 1 January 1953
Aircraft Type: Douglas DC-3D
Owner/operator: Aer Lingus
Registration Number: EI-ACF
Location: Spernall – ÿ United Kingdom
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 25
Component Affected: The aircraft’s engines.The aircraft’s engines.
Category: Accident
A DC-3 aircraft, en route from Dublin to Birmingham, experienced an engine failure at approximately 11:00. This resulted in a forced landing, with the loss of engine power being the sole cause of the accident. The incident highlights a critical failure to diagnose fuel starvation, compounded by insufficient coordination between the captain and first officer and a flawed assumption about sufficient fuel reserves.A DC-3 aircraft, en route from Dublin to Birmingham, experienced an engine failure at approximately 11:00. This resulted in a forced landing, with the loss of engine power being the sole cause of the accident. The incident highlights a critical failure to diagnose fuel starvation, compounded by insufficient coordination between the captain and first officer and a flawed assumption about sufficient fuel reserves.

Description

DC-3 EI-ACF “St Kieran” departed Dublin a 09:36 for a flight to Birmingham. At about 11:00 both engines quit, forcing the crew to carry out a forced landing. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The primary cause of the accident was loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. The Inquiry found that this was caused by selecting the port engine to the right main tank to which the starboard engine was also selected. The loss of engine power alone was the sole cause of the accident, which could have been avoided had the crew diagnosed the cause of the trouble and changed the fuel feed to another tank. The failure to diagnose fuel starvation was probably due to the circumstances, i.e. first the lack of co-ordinated effort by the captain and first officer after the engines out; second, the knowledge of the crew that ample fuel for the flight was on board and their belief that the engines were drawing from their respective main tanks. The actual forced landing of the aircraft in conditions of low cloud, poor forward visibility and unfavourable terrain was skillfully executed and resulted in the passengers escaping unharmed.”

Source of Information

http://www.tommyhanleyirishaviator.com/http://www.tommyhanleyirishaviator.com/

Primary Cause

Loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.Loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

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