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1956 Żurrieq Avro York crash

18 Feb 1956 · Near Żurrieq, Malta

Scottish Airlines Avro York · Pilot error

From Luqa Airport, Malta to London Stansted Airport (STN)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
50 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Avro York

Aircraft type
Avro YORK
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
G-ANSY
Onboard fatalities
50
Route
From Luqa Airport, MaltaTo London Stansted Airport (STN)

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1956 Żurrieq Avro York crash happened on 18 February 1956 when a Scottish Airlines Avro York crashed after takeoff from Luqa Airport in Malta on a trooping flight from the Suez Canal Zone to London Stansted Airport. The disaster killed all 50 passengers and crew on board the aircraft; all passengers except one (a British Army private) were Royal Air Force personnel.

Accident

The Avro York, registration G-ANSY, took off from Luqa Airport, Malta at 12:21 UTC time on a flight to London Stansted Airport with 45 passengers and five crew aboard. Shortly after becoming airborne, the boost enrichment capsule in the carburetor of the number one engine failed, and the engine caught fire. The pilots failed to feather the propeller as the aircraft slowly climbed to 700–800 feet; they then made a left turn to return to the airport. Shortly after retracting the flaps, the aircraft went into a nose-up attitude at very low speed. This resulted in a stall, which caused the aircraft to enter an unrecoverable dive. It crashed into the ground near the town of Żurrieq killing all 50 passengers and crew on board.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1956 Żurrieq Avro York crash” (revision 1369060063, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 1956 Żurrieq Avro York crash
Article
1956 Żurrieq Avro York crash
Revision
1369060063 · 2026-08-12 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4568779
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "1956 Żurrieq Avro York crash" (page 25971385, revision 1369060063)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an airline in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.