Incident Overview
Date: Saturday 25 July 1953
Aircraft Type: de Havilland DH-106 Comet 1
Owner/operator: British Overseas Airways Corporation – BOAC
Registration Number: G-ALYR
Location: Calcutta-Dum Dum Airport (CCU) –
ÿ India
Phase of Flight: Taxi
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 42
Component Affected: Aircraft steering wheel and landing lights.Aircraft steering wheel and landing lights.
Category: Accident
A flight experienced a landing incident due to insufficient lighting conditions at night. The crew utilized landing lights while taxiing, alternating left and right to prevent a potential mechanical failure. During a left-hand turn, the captain removed their left hand from the steering wheel to select a landing light. The steering wheel caused the aircraft to bog off the paved surface, resulting in damage to the wing structure. Engine power was applied to the right engines, forcing strut deformation.A flight experienced a landing incident due to insufficient lighting conditions at night. The crew utilized landing lights while taxiing, alternating left and right to prevent a potential mechanical failure. During a left-hand turn, the captain removed their left hand from the steering wheel to select a landing light. The steering wheel caused the aircraft to bog off the paved surface, resulting in damage to the wing structure. Engine power was applied to the right engines, forcing strut deformation.
Description
Because taxi lights were too dim to use at night, the crew had to use the landing lights while taxiing. Both lights had to be alternated left and right to avoid a meltdown by using a switch behind the captains seat. In a left hand turn the captain took his left hand off the steering wheel to select another landing light. The steering centered, and then the aircraft right wheel bogies ran off the paved surface. Engine power was applied on the two right engines, causing the bogie struts to be forced up and into the wing structure causing much damage.
Source of Information
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DgJFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZbcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3231%2C1630613https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DgJFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZbcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3231%2C1630613Primary Cause
Insufficient lighting conditions at night.Insufficient lighting conditions at night.Share on:
