Munich air disaster: Encyclopedia II - Munich air disaster - Cause

Munich air disaster - Cause

Captain James Thain, the pilot, tried to take off twice, but both attempts were aborted due to a problem with the engines. When a third take off was attempted, at 3:04pm, the plane failed to gain adequate height and crashed into the fence surrounding the airport, then into a house, which was unoccupied at the time. Although the crash was originally blamed on pilot error, it was subsequently found to have been caused by the build-up of slush towards the ends of the runway, causing deceleration of the aircraft and preventing safe flying speed from being attained. Aircraft with tail-wheel undercarriages had not been greatly affected by slush, due to the geometry of these undercarriages in relation to the aircraft's centre of gravity, but newer types, such as the Ambassador, with nosewheel landing-gear and the main wheels behind the centre of gravity were found to be vulnerable. The accident resulted in the instigation of operating limits for the amount of slush build-up permitted on runways.

Despite this conclusion, the West German Authorities (who were legally responsible for the state of the airport's runways) took legal action against Captain Thain, claiming he had taken-off without de-icing the wings sufficiently and that responsibility for the accident was his alone, despite several witnesses stating that this was not so. The basis of the German Authorities' case relied on a photograph of the aircraft (published in several newspapers - shown right) taken shortly before take off, that appeared to show snow on the upper wing surfaces. When the original negative was examined, however, no snow or ice could be seen, the 'snow' having been due to the published pictures being produced from a copy-negative. For some reason the witnesses were not called to the German enquiry and proceedings against Thain dragged-on for years. Thain, having been dismissed by BEA shortly after the accident, retired and returned to run his poultry farm in Berkshire. He died of a heart attack at the age of 54, in 1975.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cause", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki