Piper Aztec crashes on approach to Newcastle Airport
A crash on the evening of Sunday 2nd December 1984 claimed the first fatality at Newcastle Airport since the Second World War when Piper Aztec 250 registration D-IMOT (c/n 27-468) crashed, killing the crew. Below is the Air Investigation Branch (AIB) report into the crash.
The aircraft was on a flight from Landshut (near Munich, Germany) to the USA with Newcastle intended as the first point of landing. London Air Traffic Control Centre had passed the Newcastle 17:50 hrs weather to the aircraft as it was in transit over the North Sea. This was 5/8 stratus (five eighths of cloud cover) at 500 feet and 4500 metres visibility. Initial contact with Newcastle approach was made shortly before 18:49 hrs when the aircraft was 45 miles South East of the airport. The pilot was informed that radar vectors would be given to an ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach for runway 07. He was also passed the latest weather (18:50 hrs) which had deteriorated to 2/8 at 100 feet, 5/8 stratus at 500 feet, 1000 metres visibility and a runway visual range (RVR) in excess of 1100 metres. After the pilot had confirmed that he wished to land with his altimeter set to QNH, he was given the threshold elevation of 263 feet for runway 07 and QNH of 1007 mb. Radar vectors routed the aircraft South of the airfield at a height of 2500 feet. There was a certain amount of difficulty with the language and on several occasions the pilot (who was of Austrian nationality) asked for messages to be repeated.
Just after 19:06 hrs the controller instructed the aircraft to steer 030° to intercept the localiser. The pilot questioned this and was immediately given a revised heading of 040° and advised that his range was 7.5 miles. This instruction was acknowledged and the aircraft was observed by the controller flying on this heading but pass through the extended centreline without turning. The controller therefore asked him 'do you have ILS?' to which the pilot replied 'negative'. The pilot was instructed to turn right onto 120°. Again he questioned the heading, which the controller confirmed and also instructed the pilot to descend to 1000 feet on the QNH. At this point the pilot asked 'is the ILS frequency 110.50 correct?' and the controller gave him the correct frequency of 111.50, which was acknowledged. At 19:08:10 hrs when the aircraft was just 4 miles from touchdown, the pilot was told that he was closing the centreline from the left and instructed to turn onto 080°. He called established on the localiser 40 seconds later and the controller informed the pilot that he was 2.75 miles from touchdown. He was cleared to descend to 650 feet 'and further on the glideslope'. The aircraft then began to drift to the right of the centreline and when the controller asked if the had the localiser he replied 'Oscar Tango with the localiser'. During the exchange the aircraft continued to drift to the right and the controller advised him of this and instructed him to overshoot by climbing on runway heading 070° to 2500 feet. These instructions were repeated by the pilot at 19:09:35 hrs and this was the last transmission from the aircraft. It was not possible to determine the exact time of impact, but the time interval between the controllers instruction to descend to 1000 feet (from 2500 feet) and the impact was approximately 2 minutes 5 seconds.
Immediately following the accident the ILS was withdrawn from service as a standard precaution. A routine calibration had been carried out two weeks previously and was found to be satisfactory. Ground testing after the accident showed that the localiser was radiating normally. The ILS was declared serviceable and returned to service later on the same evening. The first people on the scene of the accident reported thick fog, and the 19:20 weather recorded 200 metres visibility in fog with the RVR in excess of 1100 metres.
Examination of the accident site, one mile short of the runway and half a mile right of the extended centreline at a height of approx. 240 feet showed the aircraft was in the landing configuration on a heading of 060° at an estimated speed of 150 Kt/ It impacted violently in a nose down and slightly left wing low attitude leaving a plan outline of its shape on the ground. It had bounced for 120 yards and passed inverted through hedges bordering a road then slid for a further 100 yards coming to rest with the cockpit and forward fuselage under the centre section and wing. There was no fire but the pilot was killed instantly in the impact. Inspection of the wreckage showed the engines were developing a substantial degree of power at the moment of impact. No evidence was found to suggest any pre-impact defect or malfunction. The remains of a military en-route document of 1980 vintage was recovered from the wreckage, no runway approach charts for Newcastle were found. A German Private Pilots License (PPL), including an instrument rating in the name of the pilot was found valid until 17th August 1985. This was subsequently shown to be a forgery. The pilot had originally held a German PPL but this had expired and at no time had he held an instrument rating. Inquires also revealed that he did not hold either an Austrian or American pilot's license.