The Lenterbury Collision

## British Airways Flight 952

The L-1011 involved, pictured here in 1975

The Lenterbury Collision was a mid-air collision that occurred over the town of Lenterbury, North Yorkshire. The crash was a result of a transponder failure in American Airlines Flight 267 which, combined with the poor weather, led to a collision with British Airways Flight 952. It resulted in the deaths of 658 people, 289 of those on Flight 952, 342 on Flight 267, and 27 on the ground.

## Pilots and Aircraft

The first aircraft, an American Airlines DC-10 registered N126AA, had been delivered to the airline just 9 months earlier. Flying it was Captain George Dunmore, First Officer Joseph Stanley III and Flight Engineer Brian Davis. The three were relatively experienced on the DC-10, with 5,421 hours on the aircraft in total.

The second aircraft was a British Airways L-1011 registered G-BBAE which had been in service with the airline for all 4 years of its life. On board is Captain Michael Smith, First Officer Joshua McCartney and Flight Engineer Peter Williams. They too were relatively experienced with their aircraft, totalling with 4,012 hours.

## The Incident

*WARNING: This page is the most graphic I've ever written, and while you are reading this on a wikia literally dedicated to plane crashes, I do just want to alert you that this one gets pretty dark.*

The two flights both started with nothing particularly out of the ordinary. British Airways Flight 952 to Phoenix was at about half capacity for the aircraft as it was a night flight. On the other hand, American Airlines Flight 267 was packed full with passengers wanting to get away to London or Rome for a break. What the pilots of Flight 267 didn't know, however, was that beneath their feet, a crucial piece of equipment had broken. The transponder serving the DC-10s satellite data had bugged out, and was now reading an altitude 1000ft above where it was, so instead of transmitting 30,000ft, which the plane was flying at, it was transmitting 31,000ft. As no one knew it had failed, the flight continued as normal. Luckily, the controller managing the Atlantic corridor had placed no aircraft at 30,000ft, so Flight 267 had no collision to make. But, when entering British airspace, the flight switched over to Heathrow approach control, still no one knowing the problem at hand. The aircraft was to begin its descent over Scotland, and it did so. Heading in the opposite direction was a British-flying L-1011, making Flight 952 to Pheonix. It was ascending as it headed towards the Atlantic corridor. The controller instructed Flight 267 to descend to an altitude of 17,000ft and then told Flight 952 to ascend to 18,000ft, and both did so. While they were changing in altitudes, the controller became distracted by another British Airways flight which had suffered an engine blow-out near the airport. Since this was an A300, the world's first and only wide-body twin-engine jet at the time, the controller treated this as serious business and focused on it to make sure it landed. Once it was approaching the runway and the controller was sure it would make it back safely, he glanced back at the rest of the planes under his guise. He, in a moment of panic, realised that Flight 267 and Flight 952 were just miles from a collision, as on his screen, they were both at 18,000ft. Before he could even check which direction they were headed, he frantically ordered Flight 267 to ascend 1,000ft, without specifying the altitude they would be ascending to. The pilots of Flight 267, who were originally going to miss Flight 952 entirely, did so. From the controller's screen, the aircraft was now safely out of harm's way. In actuality, he'd just moved Flight 267 into it.

As the aircraft drew closer to one another, all three parts of the loop, Flight 267, Flight 952 and the controller, had no idea what a catastrophe they were going to cause. No TCAS, no controller to tell them otherwise, the two planes were doomed. Well, almost. If it were a clear, bright day, the two aircraft would see one another, and manoeuvre out of the way. But, that was not today. It was a thundery, rain-swept evening on November 14th, and neither of the pilots would be able to see each other until it was far too late. But, they could see their lights. Just miles apart, each set of pilots noticed some blinking in the distance. They were unsure what it was, but both knew it was something, and no matter what it was their plane was not going to hit it. Each pilot decided to make a turn, unconfirmed with the controller. Flight 267 banked sharp to the left, and Flight 952 banked up, and fatally, right. In a simple error akin to something you might accidentally do with someone on the street, the two planes, in an attempt to avoid one another, headed straight towards each other. As the nose of each aircraft became clear through the fog, a member of the American crew called out "S\*\*t!", as they realised the plane was headed straight towards the underbelly of Flight 952. With no time to manoeuvre out the way, the American Airlines jet slammed into Flight 952, obliterating both aircraft, the explosion of which could be heard for miles around. Or in this case, miles beneath.

Below the collision was the sleepy town of Lenterbury in North Yorkshire. The residents, or those who were awake at least, heard the explosion and rushed out to see what it was. When they looked up, they saw a cloud of fiery smoke, debris raining from it and heading right for them. They rushed inside and alerted those who were in the house with them, and hid them in a location they thought safest. Within moments, the debris from the collision had begun to hit the ground, waking most residents, and in some cases, putting some to sleep, permanently. As burning debris and jet fuel fell all around the town, buildings began catching fire, and in such a old place like Lenterbury, that fire could spread fast through the town. Soon, emergency services were at the site, and my what a sight it was. The whole town, within minutes, had seemed as if it had descended into a pit of hell. Fire spread across the land, with firefighters unsure where to even start. The screams of all those who inhabited the town surrounded the area, and those who remained silent would stay that way forevermore. The people trapped beneath debris had little hope, some gave in to their injuries, some held on for a rescue they knew would take hours to reach them. Bags of luggage: clothes, books, teddy bears, were scattered around the town, with rescuers knowing no one would come to claim them. A jet engine had been blasted through the centre of the town hall, destroying the once historic site. And to top it all off, as if God Himself wished to destroy the town and everyone within it, the storm which desecrated the planes was closing in to do the same to the town. While the rain was doing a haphazard job of putting out the fires, or at least shrinking them, what it brought with it wouldn't help at all. Lightning struck three points in the town as the storm passed over: once in a home which had already been evacuated, once in the street, and the worst one, a bolt of lightning struck a jet engine. The engine, positioned inside a house which it had destroyed along with its inhabitants, exploded as the jet fuel within it ignited. While three people inside the house had already died, the final survivor, a young child, was killed in the explosion. The blast tore through the adjacent houses, killing all those who remained inside them, and causing the houses beyond it to catch on fire as parts of the engine spewed into their flammable roofs. This town was decimated, desecrated, and half of it cremated. 27 people had died in the town, 4 of those in hospital. 93 others from the town also joined them in hospital, but they were lucky enough to go home afterwards. But what homes did they have to go to? Practically the whole town had been destroyed, only a couple dozen houses still stood after it all. The rest were the charred or destroyed remains of history, left only to the mourners who would soon follow.

## Aftermath

The AAIB began an investigation the morning following the accident, and found after some time that the transponder failure on the DC-10, combined with the poor weather and bad ATC commands, resulted in the accident. The board described the transponder failure as a "1 in a billion fluke" and notified all owners of DC-10s on what the issue was, and how to fix it.

The site was visited by many figures, including the then-prime minister James Callaghan and members of the Royal Family, including Elizabeth II.

Many artists and photographers took to the site for inspiration, and many photos and paintings came as a result of the accident. The most famous of which, named 'Two Angels', was taken by amateur photographer Paul Davidson. The photo, taken in the somewhat-intact tail section of the L-1011 located just outside of the town, depicted two children, still in their seats, clutching their respective stuffed animals. The two were later named as Sophie Furnmore and Jason Garner, and after an autopsy was performed on the two, it was found that they had not died from burns, but rather from the impact of the fall. This meant that the two spent their final moments falling from 18,000ft, awake and alert, watching as their own lives ended.