1959 Transair Douglas Dakota accident
Douglas Dakota · VFR into IMC, Controlled flight into terrain
From Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) to London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
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
- 32 · 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
- 0
- 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
Douglas Dakota
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DAKOTA
- 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-AMZD
- Operator
- Transair
- Onboard fatalities
- 32
- Route
- From Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)To London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The Transair Douglas Dakota accident was an aircraft accident that occurred on 19 August 1959, when a Douglas Dakota operated by British airline Transair on a non-scheduled flight from Barcelona Airport in Spain to London-Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom crashed in Spain. The aircraft, which was carrying 29 students home to England, had been chartered by the National Union of Students to conduct regular weekly flights between Gatwick and Barcelona. It was the first accident suffered by a Transair aircraft following the airline's formation in 1947.
Accident
The aircraft, registered G-AMZD, had arrived early on the day of the accident at Barcelona from Gatwick with a party of students on board, and was scheduled to return to London with another group of students who were returning home from a holiday in Majorca. The flight was conducted under visual flight rules (VFR); however, 19 minutes after departure from Barcelona, while climbing to its cruising altitude, the Dakota entered cloud and struck Turó de l'Home, a mountain north east of Barcelona. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was 10 nmi away from its intended flight path. Locals reported that at the time of the crash it was misty in the area.
An official at a nearby weather station raised the alarm upon observing the crash. Upon arrival, the Spanish Civil Guard found the wreckage of the aircraft had been burnt out by a post-impact fire. All 29 passengers and three crew were killed.
Investigation and cause
Probable cause
Following an investigation of the accident, a report from the Spanish Director-General of Civil Aviation stated: The Director-General also stated that the evidence did not indicate that Spanish Air Traffic Control personnel were responsible for the crash through their actions in any way. In addition, there was no evidence found that any defects in aids to navigation contributed to the accident. Accordingly, the British Air Ministry, also investigating the crash, resolved to close the case without allocating responsibility. It was concluded that the pilot should not have entered cloud without advising air traffic control that he required an instrument flight clearance; it was presumed that the pilot was unaware that Turó de l'Home, 1712 m in height, was in the path of the aircraft at the time the Dakota entered the clouds.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1959 Transair Douglas Dakota accident” (revision 1339307167, 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: 1959 Transair Douglas Dakota accident
- Revision
- 1339307167 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4569730
- 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 "1959 Transair Douglas Dakota accident" (page 33680275, revision 1339307167)
- 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 is an airline according to Wikidata
- 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.