British Caledonian Airways accident on Corfu
BAC One-Eleven 501EX · Runway excursion on takeoff
From Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport (CFU) 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
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 84
- 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
BAC One-Eleven 501EX
- Aircraft type
- Bac One Eleven 501
- 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-AWYS
- Operator
- British Caledonian Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport (CFU)To London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
In the British Caledonian Airways accident on Corfu, a British Caledonian Airways BAC One-Eleven 501EX bound for London-Gatwick Airport crashed when it overran the end of the runway and plunged into a lagoon. In the accident, which occurred during the takeoff run from Corfu Airport, a female passenger was killed.
Accident sequence
The pilots were carrying out the takeoff run with the aircraft when the One-Eleven ran through a deep puddle of standing water. The left engine then ingested water and there was a temporary loss of power. The captain thought the left engine had failed and initiated a rejected takeoff shortly before decision speed. The aircraft overran the end of the runway and came to a stop in a nearby lagoon at a depth of about 1 metre. An elderly lady died of a heart attack on the way to hospital.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident was investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). The investigators attributed the accident to the aircraft having rolled through a puddle of standing water at a speed very close to V1, which led to a temporary reduction in engine thrust due to water ingestion and a temporary loss of acceleration. This situation apparently delayed the crew's ability to diagnose the problem. The initiation of action to reject the takeoff came about three seconds too late for the aircraft to be stopped within the remaining runway distance.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der British Caledonian Airways auf Korfu” (revision 261454481, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der British Caledonian Airways auf Korfu
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 261454481 · 2025-11-11 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q127274425
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der British Caledonian Airways auf Korfu" (page 12862671, revision 261454481), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- 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 article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.