Oudega air accident

The Oudega air accident occurred on 9 November 1966 on a Britten-Norman company flight from Emden to Southampton. The prototype of the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, G-ATCT, crashed after a loss of control near Oudega in what is today the Dutch municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân. Both occupants of the aircraft were killed in the accident.

Flight history

After the prototype had completed several demonstration flights in Germany, it was to be ferried to the manufacturer's plant at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight on 9 November 1966. The positioning flight took off from Emden Airport at 11:37 local time. The flight was to be conducted under visual flight rules. Two minutes after takeoff the pilot established radio contact with air traffic control at Eelde and informed it at 11.50 that he was abeam the Eelde VOR and was flying over the cloud cover at an altitude of 1,500 feet in visual meteorological conditions. At this point the pilot could not possibly have had a clear view of the terrain he was flying over. At 11:56 the pilot asked the flight information service in Amsterdam whether it could provide him with a radar-assisted flight through the control zone of Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport. This was refused on the grounds that a radar link could not be established. At 12:09 the pilot was advised to return to Eelde, as the weather conditions in the Schiphol control zone did not permit a visual flight at 1,500 feet. After receiving the instruction, the pilot stated that he would continue the flight in accordance with his flight plan.

Accident sequence

When he was at an altitude of 1,500 feet at 12:20, the pilot informed air traffic control that he would exit the Schiphol control area westbound. This radio message came after the air traffic controller had once again firmly reminded the pilot to stay out of the Schiphol control area, as it was impossible to fly through the area under visual flight rules at an altitude of 1,500 feet. The later reconstruction of the route flown by the aircraft showed that the Islander had strayed from its flight route shortly afterwards and had continued the flight on a heading of 40 degrees. At 12:34 the pilot called air traffic control and informed it that he was currently having serious problems with the radio compass. He requested to be guided, but air traffic control was still unable to establish radar contact with the aircraft. Eyewitnesses then observed near the village of Rijs, located on the IJsselmeer in the south of the province of Friesland, how the aircraft repeatedly flew over the area at low altitude in fog and rain. At 12:40 the pilot again reported problems with the radio compass and requested a radar-assisted approach, but air traffic control was still unable to establish radar contact. At 12:47 the low-altitude flight was abandoned. The pilot made the aircraft climb and reported at 12:49 that he was at an altitude of 3,000 feet, flying in instrument meteorological conditions, and that he was having serious problems with the flight instruments. Air traffic control instructed him to maintain altitude and fly a heading of 200 degrees. Contrary to this instruction, the pilot reported at 12:51 that he was at an altitude of 5,000 feet and at 12:54 that he was at 6,000 feet. At 12:55 the air traffic controller asked the pilot whether the aircraft was flying in circles. The pilot answered in the affirmative. The air traffic controller acknowledged receipt of the radio message and said that he had assumed the aircraft would follow the heading of 200 degrees. The pilot replied that he was unable to hold a heading. Shortly afterwards the aircraft appeared on the surveillance radar. The controller instructed the pilot to fly a left turn. The pilot again replied that he could not maintain a heading and that right turns were easier to fly. At 12:58 the pilot enquired about the height of the cloud cover and asked whether there were areas between the cloud layers where he could encounter visual flight conditions. When the pilot was given clearance to climb to 8,000 feet, an aircraft of the German Air Force (Bundeswehr) flew over the area near Spijkerboor at 10,000 feet and reported that instrument meteorological conditions prevailed without restriction at this altitude. At 13:01 the Islander's pilot reported that he was at 8,700 feet and that he was trying to …