ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 186326
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| Date: | Monday 16 December 1991 |
| Time: | 21:17 |
| Type: |  Cessna P210N |
| Owner/operator: | EMMI Consultancy |
| Registration: | G-BTLK |
| MSN: | P210-00298 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Goodwood Aerodrome, Chichester, West Sussex -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Randers Airfield, Denmark (EKRD) |
| Goodwood Aerodrome, Chichester, West Sussex (EGHR) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Ex-OY-JRD (Danish registration); first re-registered in the UK as G-BTLK on 8-5-1991. Written off (destroyed by fire) 16-12-1991 when crashed on approach to Goodwood Aerodrome, Chichester, West Sussex. The pilot/co-owner (the sole person on board) was killed
On the morning of 16 December 1991 the owner of Cessna 210 G-BTLK, Niels Tougaard Nielsen, had flown from Goodwood to Randers in Denmark. Later that day, after having intended to fly to Mannheim, in Germany, he changed his mind and filed a flight plan for Goodwood. However that flight would have been beyond that permitted by his PPL, in that it would have been through notified airspace and at night, and he declined, when offered to him, weather reports and forecasts for that flight. That flight also neccessitated ATC at Goodwood opening specially, out of hours, to receive the Cessna.
The Cessna took off from Randers at 17:50 and its flight was uneventful. At about 21:00 it was in the vicinity of Goodwood, which had the runway illuminated at full setting for the Cessna to make a VOR (radio navigation assisted) landing. There was fog, rain and a visibility of about 500 metres. The Cessna descended to about 200 feet but the approach was unsatisfactory and the pilot elected to go around. He climbed away and flew a circuit of Goodwood before making another approach. Presumably because of the weather conditions, three nautical miles out on its approach the Cessna was down to 100 feet. It then rose to 200 feet before the pilot told Goodwood ATC that he had the airfield in view and would attempt a visual approach. The ATC cleared him to land, he acknowledged that and no more was ever heard from the pilot.
Goodwood ATC could not see the Cessna but could hear it. What they heard, it is said, was the engine running normally. Immediately after this they heard a loud thud. Then all was silent. The Goodwood fire officer jumped into his car and drove the end of the runway on which the Cessna had been approaching to land. Half way there he saw fire. Thus he turned back to get the fire vehicle and foam tender. With this he raced to the scene of the accident, where the Cessna was burning fiercely. The fire was extinguished. Not until this happened did the fire officer realise that the pilot was still in the Cessna. He was dead. The Cessna was destroyed and the CAA cancelled its registration on 23 July 1992.
The Cessna had come to ground, nose down, on the Goodwood motor racing circuit. So heavily did it do so that the nose and one undercarriage leg was torn away on impact. Then the other undercarriage leg collapsed and, on its belly, the Cessna slid for 88 metres. This damaged the rear fuselage and starboard wing and tore the engine from its mount. Presumably one or more of the fuel tanks were breached, leading to fire breaking out. The AAIB investigation determined that the fire had, principally, been confined to the interior of the cabin. Presumably this is why the pilot died there.
When the remains of the Cessna were examined, no evidence was found that there had been any mechanical defects or structural failures in the Cessna prior to the accident and it was determined that the engine and propeller were operating at the point of impact. Thus whilst the AAIB report does not state as much, it seems reasonable to deduce that pilot error, in the dark and poor weather conditions, was the sole cause of this crash. Had the pilot stuck to his initial plan and flown to Mannheim and/or heeded the limitations imposed upon him by his PPL, the outcome might have been very different.
The post-mortem suggested that the pilot was knocked unconscious by the initial impact, probably because it is likely that he was not wearing the harness installed in the Cessna at the time of the crash. Thus he made no attempt to get out of the Cessna and was killed by the fire which broke out. Ironically, the AAIB report opines that had be been wearing his harness, it is likely that he would have survived the accident.
Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "aircraft destroyed by fire". As a result, the registration G-BTLK was cancelled by the CAA on 23-7-1992 as "Permanently withdrawn from use"
G-BTLK was built in 1988 and was ex-N4767K (US Registry) and OY-JRD (Danish Registry from 1979 to 1991)
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. Sandwell Evening Mail - Tuesday 17 December 1991
2. AAIB: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422f1d240f0b6134200035d/Cessna_P210N__G-BTLK_03-92.pdf
3. FAA US registry: https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=4767K
4. http://www.oy-reg.dk/register/3099.html
5. https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-BTLK.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Apr-2016 20:09 | Dr.John Smith | Added |
| 10-Apr-2016 21:42 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Departure airport] |
| 06-Nov-2020 19:22 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Accident report] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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