British European Airways Flight 200

British European Airways Flight 200 (flight number: BE200, owing to a codeshare also Lufthansa Flight 200, flight number LH200) was an international charter cargo flight on 21 January 1967 from Manchester Airport to Frankfurt Airport, which was operated by the airline Air Ferry for British European Airways and Lufthansa. On this flight, the Douglas DC-4/C-54A-15-DC aircraft being used was flown into the forest shortly before landing at the destination airport. The two pilots on board were killed in the accident.

Flight history and accident sequence

Takeoff was scheduled for 00:10 local time. Due to a malfunction of the door warning indicator, departure was delayed until 01:19. The pilots contacted approach control in Frankfurt at 05:02 local time. The pilots were instructed to report over the Frankfurt VOR, and they were also given a QNH value (air pressure referenced to sea level) of 1,018 mb. At 05:05 the pilots reported that they had passed over the Frankfurt beacon at flight level 60. The air traffic controller then instructed the pilots to carry out an ILS approach to runway 25R. At around 05:10 the pilots were informed that they were still about eight nautical miles from the runway threshold. They were instructed to tune their radios to a frequency of 118.7 MHz and to contact the control centre. The pilots followed the instruction and immediately received landing clearance, and they were also told that the wind was calm. The QFE value (air pressure referenced to aerodrome elevation) was at no time communicated to the pilots. At 5:13 local time and about two minutes after the last radio transmission, the aircraft, on a heading of 260°, clipped several trees in a wooded area in darkness around 2,700 metres short of the runway and 100 metres to the left of the extended centreline. The aircraft continued on a heading of 280° and clipped further trees before it crashed to the ground, broke apart and caught fire. Both pilots were killed in the accident.