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Air Ecosse charter flight that crash landed at flotta aerodrome 20/03/1983. The Twin Otter dhc6 310 ,reg g-stud,carrying 2 crew and 10 passengers was caught by a crosswind just as it touched down on the runway causing the plane to do a cartwheel into the field. Nobody was seriously hurt in the crash, the co-pilot was lucky as the prop cut into the side of the cockpit and cut his harness
View Large VersionPicture added on 24 January 2010 at 12:45
AIB Farnborough discovered that the anemometer was at the bottom of the airfield and sheltered. The reading, given to the crew, was 25 knots. AIB estimated that the gust could have been 75 knots. The DH6 maximum acceptable, controllable X-wind is 38 knots. The propeller came through the top of the aircraft cutting Nigel's harness just behind his neck as he was thrown forward. He, being on top of me, got out first. Since a passenger had tried to pull the door into the cabin and had wrenched off the handle, Nigel had to climb the tail of the aircraft to open the door and pull people out. I lifted them down, two broken ribs had restricted any other action. The door between cockpit and cabin had been jammed into a semi-shut position stopping access to the cabin. My one memory that sticks is the sound of fuel running out from the aircraft and under my feet. Luckily (?) the aircraft had ended onto the peat and the fuel could not reach the red-hot engine lying a few feet away!
Added by Tony May (Captain of G-STUD) on 10 April 2020
Roy Davidson. Have you got any pictures of the 1st flight of a Twin Otter landing at Flotta in 1974?
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Added by Richard Evans on 04 July 2024
Flotta
