ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 18522
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| Date: | Tuesday 20 July 1993 |
| Time: | 18:27 LT |
| Type: |  Beechcraft F33C Debonair |
| Owner/operator: | Ioan Glyndwr Meredith |
| Registration: | G-UNST |
| MSN: | CJ-141 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 1/2 mile west of Shadoxhurst, near Ashford, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Lydd Airport, Ashford, Kent (LYX/EGMD) |
| Lydd Airport, Ashford, Kent (LYX/EGMD) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Built 1978, first registered in the Netherlands as PH-BNL 25 January 1978: to G-UNST 3-7-1991. On the evening of 20.7.93 Beech Bonanza G-UNST took off from Lydd Airport on a local flight with the pilot and one passenger on board. 14 minutes later it was at 800 feet over Shadoxhurst, near Ashford. From there it descended slowly, turning to port, until it was about 100 -150 feet over Shadoxhurst Garage. Then its port wing dropped, probably having stalled, and the Bonanza then went into a flat spin spin before crashing into a bean field. It came down starboard wing first, which tore away the outboard part of that wing and caused the Bonanza to nose in. The impact damage substantially compromised the airframe, including rupturing the wing tanks. The fuel escaping from these fed the fire which broke out and that destroyed the cabin element of the fuselage. Both occupants of the Bonanza died of multiple injuries at the crash site.
The AAIB, in the course of its post-crash examination of the wreckage of the Bonanza, could find no evidence of any pre-crash defects in or problems with the airframe, engine, mechanical systems, ignition, exhaust or flying controls that might have caused or contributed to the crash. The weather was fine and the visibility was good. Both of the occupants of the Bonanza held PPLs and it was not possible to determine which of them had command of the controls of the Bonanza immediately prior to the crash. Post mortem examinations of them took place. That of the 'pilot' (i.e. the person occupying the front left seat) revealed nothing untoward. However that of the 'passenger' revealed that all three of his main coronary arteries were seriously diseased and examination of these and his heart suggested that it was impossible to rule out that, prior to the crash, he might have experienced symptoms of chest pain, collapse or sudden death.
The AAIB report does not develop this theory. But could it have been the case that the 'passenger' was flying the Bonanza over Shadoxhurst when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed on the control wheel and whilst the 'pilot' was trying to get him off that, he wasn't and couldn't concentrate on flying the Bonanza and that this was why it made its turning descent before stalling and crashing into the bean field? With the only two people who could say being dead, it is doubtful that this will ever be known. It seems destined to remain another aerial enigma.
Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "aircraft disrupted by impact and destroyed by fire". As a result, the registration G-UNST was cancelled by the CAA on 4 August 1993 as "Permanently withdrawn from use"
Shadoxhurst is a civil parish and a village on the remnant forest the Kent Weald, near Ashford in Kent, England between the Greensand Ridge and Romney Marsh.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. Evening Herald (Dublin) - Wednesday 21 July 1993
2. Folkestone Herald - Thursday 02 December 1993
3. The Independent Tuesday 20 July 1993: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/two-die-in-air-crash-1486090.html
4. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f980e5274a1317000793/Beech_F33C_Bonanza__G-UNST_11-93.pdf
5. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=UNST
6. http://members.home.nl/doewe.pel/overvbeechcraftf33c.html
7. https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-UNST.html
8. https://www.hdekker.info/registermap/MB.htm
9. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17934.0
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadoxhurst
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 11-Oct-2012 17:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Damage, Narrative] |
| 15-May-2016 22:04 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 15-May-2016 22:05 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 30-Nov-2020 18:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Accident report] |
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