Date:	Sunday 18 January 1987
Time:	13:01
Type:	Morane-Saulnier MS.894A Rallye Minerva 220
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	G-BCAD
MSN:	12101
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	near Monkton, Devon, off A30, in field behind Little Chef restaurant -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Staverton Airport, Gloucestershire (EGBJ)
Destination airport:	Exeter, Devon (EGTE)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Nosedived into the ground; frozen flaps. As a pilot. It is my belief that the pitot head froze in the prevailing icing conditions. Seeing the air speed drop dramatically Stuart Williams, the pilot, would have put the nose down to build up air speed. As the aircraft was being flown blind in low cloud (I understand that Exeter Air Traffic Control had received a request from Mr Williams for a radar let-down) the pilot would have little idea as to the danger. Sometime previously, as a passenger in this aircraft I had noticed a brass plate near the instrument panel cautioning against flying the Rallye in icing conditions. Furthermore, as a back seat passenger, I witnessed, on a flight from Staverton to Sturgate (Lincolnshire), a situation wherein the airspeed began to drop when we were flying in low cloud on a very cold day.

Mr Williams had an instructor beside him and they were flying on instruments. The aircraft came out of the bottom of the cloud at 400 feet. All three persons on board (pilot, instructor and one other) were killed.

G-BCAD crashed into a field behind the "Little Chef" restaurant, just off the A30 road near Monkton, Devon. Registration G-BCAD cancelled by the CAA as aircraft "destroyed" 11/4/1988.

1. Submitted by Kenneth Fergusson who as a member of the Cotswold Aero Club at the time of the incident, I was present at the air field when the aircraft departed Staverton in low cloud in what seemed to me freezing conditions.
2. AAIB: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5423026de5274a1314000b1d/Socata_MS894A_Rallye_Minerva__G-BCAD__08-87.pdf
3. CAA: http://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-registration/
4. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/rallye.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2008 11:10	ASN archive	Added
30-Apr-2010 04:51	fergy	Updated [Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Nov-2012 14:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Nov-2014 17:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]
05-Dec-2015 23:49	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Source]