ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 18955
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| Date: | Tuesday 23 January 1973 |
| Time: | 19:09 UTC |
| Type: |  Piper PA-30-160 Twin Comanche C |
| Owner/operator: | Arrow Air Services (Charter) ltd |
| Registration: | G-AXRW |
| MSN: | 30-1774 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1968 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Shipdham Aerodrome, near Dereham, Norfolk -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Executive |
| Departure airport: | Aberdeen Airport (ABZ/EGPD) |
| Shipdham Aerodrome, Dereham, Norfolk | |
| Investigating agency: | AIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Written off (destroyed) when crashed on approached to Shipdham Airfield, near Dereham, Norfolk 23/1/1973, killing five of the six persons on board (pilot and four passengers - one passenger survived). The passengers killed were not named, but the pilot was named by the AAIB report as Captain R.V.Snook, Chief Pilot and Managing Director of Arrow Air Services (Charter) Ltd. According to the following extract from the summary of the official AAIB report into the accident:
"The aircraft was on a charter flight from Aberdeen to Shipdham, where the pilot attempted to make a visual night landing. The weather was overcast with patches of low stratus and ground mist . The aircraft passed over the aerodrome twice and was returning to it from the north when it collided with trees on the northern boundary of the aerodrome. The report concludes that the most probable cause of the accident was that the pilot inadvertently lost height when he was pre-occupied with locating the runway lights in poor visibility ."
When G-AXRW failed to land at Shipdham, overdue action was taken by ATC at RAF Honington (which had been guiding the flight to Shipdham), and by a representative of Arrow Air Service at Shipdham, which resulted in a ground search being conducted by Norfolk Police. The search was hampered considerably by bad weather conditions. It was not until some seven hours later (at 3am on the 24th January) that the wreckage was found. G-AXRW had come to rest in a marshy field on the northern perimeter of Shipdham Airfield, after colliding with trees on approach.The sole survivor was trapped in the wreckage of G-AXRW: there was no fire on or after the impact.
Registration G-AXRW cancelled by the CAA as aircraft "destroyed" 9/3/73
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/542302d5e5274a1317000be3/2-1974_G-AXRW.pdf
2. https://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AXRW.pdf
3. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=8463126&catln=6
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 14-Mar-2011 08:12 | JINX | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Aug-2012 15:21 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Nature, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 30-Jul-2015 22:29 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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