South African Airways Flight 201

South African Airways Flight 201 (SA201), a de Havilland Comet 1, took off at 18:32 UTC on 8 April 1954 from Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy, en route to Cairo, Egypt, on the second stage of its flight from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight crashed at around 19:07 UTC, killing all on board. The flight was operated as a charter by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) using the aircraft ("Yoke Yoke"), with a South African crew of seven, and carrying fourteen passengers.
Flight and disaster
Gerry Bull and other BOAC engineers examined the aircraft for Flight 201. Previously, the same team had examined BOAC Flight 781 (a Comet that had broken up at altitude in January 1954) prior to its final flight.
Flight 201 took off from London for Rome at 13:00 UTC on Wednesday 7 April 1954, on the first leg southward to Johannesburg, arriving at Rome approximately two and a half hours later, at 17:35 UTC. On arrival at Rome, engineers discovered some minor faults, including a faulty fuel gauge and 30 loose bolts on the left wing, which delayed the aircraft's departure by 25 hours before Yoke Yoke was ready to depart for Cairo on the evening of Thursday 8 April.
The aircraft took off for Cairo at 18:32 UTC under the command of Captain William Mostert, and climbed rapidly toward its cruising height of . The crew reported over the Ostia beacon at 18:37 UTC, passing through the altitude of . The weather was good, but with an overcast sky.
Another report was made from the aircraft, first at 18:49 UTC at Ponza, where it reported climbing through and another at 18:57 UTC when it reported passing abeam of Naples. At 19:07 UTC, while still climbing, the aircraft contacted Cairo on the long range HF radio and reported an ETA of 21:02 UTC.
This was the last message heard from Yoke Yoke as some time later, the aircraft disintegrated in the night sky at around , killing everyone on board.
After repeated attempts at re-gaining contact by both Cairo and Rome air traffic control were made and went unanswered, it was realised that another Comet had been lost. Initial news of the accident was leaked to the press by a German radio station which had been monitoring the radio transmissions.
The New York Times wrote that:
Bull said he found it difficult to accept the fact that the circumstances surrounding the crash of BOAC flight 781 three months earlier had occurred again with the South African Airways flight.
Search and recovery
As soon as it heard of the crash, BOAC once again voluntarily grounded all of its Comets as it had done three months earlier after the BOAC Flight 781 disaster. The Italian air-sea rescue services were notified, and searching began at dawn the next day, subsequently involving the Royal Navy carrier and the destroyer . Some time later that day, a report was received from a BEA Ambassador aircraft of an oil patch some east of Naples and bodies and wreckage in the water southeast of Stromboli. The depth of the Mediterranean Sea at the crash site meant that a salvage mission was ruled out as impractical, but if the cause of the BOAC crash was found, it would also explain the SA crash due to the close similarities of the two.
Official investigation
At the time of the accident, the investigation into the crash of BOAC Flight 781 was still in progress, but suspicion of the cause of the crash had fallen on the possibility of an engine turbine failure. During the previous grounding of all Comets, modifications had been made to the aircraft, including Yoke Yoke, that seemed to eliminate this possibility.
After an extensive multi-year investigation chaired by Lionel Cohen, Baron Cohen, the official document of findings was released by the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, on 1 February 1955, as Civil Aircraft Accident Report of the Court of Inquiry into the Accidents to Comet G-ALYP on 10 January 1954 and Comet G-ALYY on 8 April 1954.
The joint investigation of this accident, and of BOAC 781, revealed manufacturer design defects and metal fatigue that resulted ultimately in the explosive decompression that caused both accidents.
In popular culture
The events of Flight 201 were included in "Ripped Apart", a Season 6 (2007) episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday (called Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the U.S. and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and elsewhere around the world). This special episode examined aviation emergencies that were caused by pressurization failure or explosive decompression; the episode also featured BOAC Flight 781.
See also
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
List of notable decompression accidents and incidents
List of structural failures and collapses
National Geographic Seconds From Disaster episodes
References
Further reading
Air Disasters by Stanley Stewart – Arrow Books (UK) 1986/89 –
Civil Aircraft Accident Report of the Court of Inquiry into the Accidents to Comet G-ALYP on 10th January, 1953 and Comet G-ALYY on 8th April, 1954. Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. London, 1955.
External links
"1954: Comet jet crashes with 35 on board," BBC (second column)
Comet Air Crash (BOAC Flight 781), Seconds From Disaster, YouTube (from 27 min)
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure
Airliner accidents and incidents involving in-flight depressurization
Aviation accidents and incidents in Italy
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1954
Flight 201
Accidents and incidents involving the de Havilland Comet
1954 in South Africa
201
1954 in Italy
April 1954 events in Europe
1954 disasters in Italy
Aviation accidents and incidents in the Mediterranean Sea