Sterling Airways Flight 4133

Sterling Airways Flight 4133 (flight number: NB4133, callsign: STERLING 4133) was an international charter flight operated by Sterling Airways on 3 September 1979 from Coventry to Nice. On this flight, an Aérospatiale SN 601 Corvette crashed into the Ligurian Sea shortly before reaching Nice Airport after a double engine fire and failure. All 10 occupants were killed in the accident. It is thus the deadliest incident involving an Aérospatiale SN 601 Corvette.

Accident sequence

The Corvette was to operate a business charter flight on that day. On the day of the accident, the aircraft first took off from Copenhagen on a flight to Stockholm, where three passengers boarded. The aircraft then flew to Coventry, where further passengers boarded. The aircraft then took off at 14:30 on the flight to Nice and climbed to flight level 290. The flight at cruising altitude and the descent proceeded without particular incident until, at 18:02 at flight level 200, a fire broke out in both engines. The crew declared an emergency and received clearance to fly directly to Nice for an emergency landing. Approach control gave the crew vectors for an emergency landing on runway 05 of Nice Airport. The pilots were flying the aircraft through the final turn for the final approach when it stalled and the Corvette crashed into the sea just one kilometre short of the runway. All 10 occupants of the aircraft were killed in the crash.

Accident investigation

After the crash, some debris floated on the surface of the sea, while the main wreckage sank to a depth of 1,500 metres. It was determined that both engines had been inoperative shortly before impact. The accident type was given as loss of control as a result of a stall following a total engine failure. The left engine had failed due to a mechanical fault in the turbine gearbox. The mechanical failure had occurred due to fatigue cracks in the affected assembly, which had previously also been observed on other aircraft of the same type. The cause of the failure of the right engine could not be determined. It only became known that attempts to restart this engine after the failure had been unsuccessful.