BSAA Star Tiger disappearance

Investigation

As soon as it was learned that the Star Tiger had been lost, BSAA's remaining Avro Tudors were grounded by Britain's Minister of Civil Aviation. They were permitted to carry cargo rather than passengers a few weeks later, but had to fly from Santa Maria to Bermuda via Newfoundland, a diversion that reduced the longest overwater leg by 250 mi.

Although Avro's managing director, Sir Roy Dobson, and Don Bennett of BSAA both publicly rejected any implication that the aircraft had been faulty, the minister decided that a judicial investigation ("Court of Investigation") into the cause of the incident was necessary, the first such since the loss of the airship R101 in 1930. Bennett objected so strongly to this that BSAA fired him.

Lord Macmillan was appointed to head the investigation, assisted by two assessors in the form of a professor of aviation from the University of London and the chief pilot of British European Airways. Professor Arnold Hall of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was appointed as an assessor. Other persons at the inquiry included Quentin Hogg QC, John Donaldson QC, and Joseph Orrell.

The investigation, which was held in public at Church House, Westminster, opened on 12 April 1948 and lasted 11 days. On 21 August it presented its report to Lord Pakenham, who had succeeded Lord Nathan of Churt as Minister of Civil Aviation. The report emphasised that the crew of the Star Tiger were highly experienced, and found "want of care and attention to detail" in the flight plan, but nothing serious enough to explain the accident.

The inquiry reported in conclusion:

Among the passengers was Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, a hero of World War II, formerly Air Officer Commander-in-Chief, 2nd Tactical Air Force during the Battle of Normandy. Coningham's death appeared on the front page of The New York Times on 31 January along with the news of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the death of Orville Wright.

Conclusions

If the Star Tiger's radio had failed shortly after 03:15, her captain and navigator would have been faced with the task of locating a small group of islands, measuring 22 mi from northeast to southwest covering a total area of 20 sqmi, and equipped with powerful lights that were visible from about 30 mi at the aircraft's assumed altitude. It was at that time about 340 mi from the islands with enough fuel for 3½ hours' flying time. However, as they were flying in a gale storm, they could have encountered headwinds that could have caused a faster consumption of fuel than the crew realised. Having received an accurate bearing, McMillan's task of making landfall was not in itself difficult, except that he was acutely aware of the fact that there was no alternative airport: the nearest point on the American mainland was Cape Hatteras, 580 mi to the west, and well beyond the Star Tiger's range. However, there was no evidence to suggest that radio failure or navigational error were responsible for the disaster.

As for engine failure, the aircraft could easily have reached Bermuda on two engines. Its lack of altitude, however, would have made any handling problem more dangerous. The altitude chosen by the Star Tiger and the Lancastrian was much lower than usual, and no previous BSAA flight had flown so low for so long. Wind forecasts were unreliable throughout the journey, especially lower; consequently, a sudden strong gust could have abruptly plunged the aircraft into the sea, or inattention on the part of the crew coupled with a faulty altimeter could have allowed it to dive gently into the sea, giving the radio operator no chance to transmit a distress signal. One notable discrepancy was that although the planned cruising altitude was 2,000 feet, every position report transmitted by Star Tiger gave the height as 20,000 ft. Since 20,000 feet was a more typical cruising altitude for this route, it is possible the crew forgot they were flying at only 2,000 feet and simply flew the aircraft into the sea during the descent phase. The crew may have been fatigued after the long flight, and contemporary altimeters were prone to misreading of the thousand-foot level. The aircraft was, however, also fitted with a radio altimeter.

Twice before on similar flights, the Star Tiger had been forced to divert to Gander, Newfoundland, and just two months previously another Tudor IV had found itself landing with less than 100 impgal of fuel left; less than the amount by which the Star Tiger was overloaded.