Kegworth air disaster
The Kegworth air disaster occurred when British Midland Airways Flight 092, a Boeing 737-400, crashed onto the motorway embankment between the M1 motorway and A453 road near Kegworth, Leicestershire, England, while attempting to make an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport on 8 January 1989.
The scene of the disaster, with the runway that G-OBME failed to reach at the top of the picture | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 8 January 1989 |
| Summary | Failure of one engine followed by erroneous shut-down of the operating engine, Stalled and crashed during emergency landing |
| Site | East Midlands Airport, Kegworth, Leicestershire, England 52°49′55″N 1°17′57.5″W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-400 |
| Operator | British Midland |
| IATA flight No. | BD092 |
| ICAO flight No. | BMA092 |
| Call sign | MIDLAND 092 |
| Registration | G-OBME |
| Flight origin | London Heathrow Airport |
| Destination | Belfast International Airport |
| Occupants | 126 |
| Passengers | 118 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 47 |
| Injuries | 74 |
| Survivors | 79 (71 passengers and all 8 crew) (initially 87) |
The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast International Airport when a fan blade broke in the left engine, disrupting the air conditioning and filling the cabin with smoke. The pilots believed this indicated a fault in the right engine, since earlier models of the 737 ventilated the cabin from the right, and they were unaware that the 737-400 used a different system. The pilots mistakenly shut down the functioning engine. They selected full thrust from the malfunctioning one and this increased its fuel supply, causing it to catch fire. Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74 sustained serious injuries. The inquiry attributed the blade fracture to metal fatigue, caused by heavy vibration in the newly upgraded engines, which had been tested only in the laboratory and not under representative flight conditions.
The accident was the first hull loss of a Boeing 737 Classic aircraft, and the first fatal accident (and second fatal occurrence) involving a Boeing 737 Classic aircraft.