1946 BOAC Douglas DC-3 accident in Malta
Douglas DC-3/C-47A-50DL · The 1946 BOAC Douglas DC-3 accident in Malta occurred on 14 August 1946
From Malta International Airport (MLA) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
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
- 4
- 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
- 4
- 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 DC-3/C-47A-50DL
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- 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-AGHT
- Operator
- Boac
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Malta International Airport (MLA)To London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1946 BOAC Douglas DC-3 accident in Malta occurred on 14 August 1946. On that day, a Douglas DC-3/C-47A-50DL aircraft, which was to operate a cargo flight from Malta to London, crashed shortly after takeoff due to fuel starvation. One of the five occupants on board the aircraft died in the accident.
Accident sequence
Shortly after takeoff, while the aircraft was in the initial climb phase, the crew informed air traffic control that the left engine had failed and received clearance to return immediately to the airport for an emergency landing. As the captain was flying the final turn of the approach, the right engine also failed. The captain pointed the aircraft's nose down for an immediate crash landing. The DC-3 plunged towards the runway and struck the runway surface hard. The aircraft bounced once more, went out of control and skidded off the runway before coming to a stop in flames. One crew member was killed, while the remaining crew members were uninjured.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation revealed that immediately after rotation the pilots had moved the fuel selector lever to the auxiliary tanks. These, however, were empty, so that the engines failed almost simultaneously due to fuel starvation.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Douglas DC-3 der BOAC in Malta 1946” (revision 246989252, 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 einer Douglas DC-3 der BOAC in Malta 1946
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 246989252 · 2024-07-22 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q127659625
- 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 einer Douglas DC-3 der BOAC in Malta 1946" (page 13153996, revision 246989252), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A BOAC DC-3 operating a cargo flight from Malta to London: an airline cargo flight. The article: "a Douglas DC-3/C-47A-50DL aircraft, which was to operate a cargo flight from Malta to London"
- 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.