BOAC Flight 729

The aircraft involved, pictured at Heathrow Airport in August 1971, 2 years before the incident

## Accident

### Summary

Fuel starvation resulting in forced emergency landing

### Place

Beachy Head Lighthouse, Eastbourne, England

## Flight

### Flight Origin

Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, United States

## Introduction

BOAC Flight 729 was a passenger flight from Miami International Airport, Florida, United States, to London Heathrow Airport, England. The flight ran out of fuel near the end of the route because of a navigation error, which forced the pilots to make an emergency landing on a beach in south England.

## Pilots

Captain Richard Evelyn was the most experienced of the crew, with over 15 years at the company, racking up nearly 24,000 hours in it all. He had experience in the 747, with 1,265 hours in the jet. First Officer Mark Phisher was less experienced, with only 6,412 hours in the air, with 736 of those in the 747. Flight Engineer Phillip Roberts was relatively experienced however, with around 13,000 hours of flying at several different companies. He was also familiar with the 747; he had little under 1,000 hours in the type. There were two sets of pilots on the flight. One, the crew described prior, would operate the takeoff and landing, and the other crew would keep track of everything while the plane flew over the Atlantic, and the main crew were sleeping.

## Background

At the time of the incident, the aviation world had fallen into chaos as fuel prices skyrocketed. This situation was dubbed the 1973 oil crisis. Because of these rising prices, airlines came under immense pressure to make ends meet on their flights. It didn't help that most of them had now ordered the gas-guzzling 747, which with its four engines, wasn't very fuel efficient. To make it worse, most airlines now couldn't stop using the 747, as they had moved it to their major transcontinental routes, and no aircraft could replace it. BOAC, which had to survive until the following year so it could merge with BEA to form British Airways, fell under this pressure too. In order to save costs, the airline reduced the amount of fuel it would load onto an aircraft. This would make it cheaper without putting the aircraft at risk. On this particular flight, the company had calculated that there was enough fuel on board to make the cross over the Atlantic. Maybe an alarm might sound not long before landing, but there was definitely enough fuel. Well, if they stuck to the route that was.

## The Incident

### Leaving Miami

The flight took off from Miami International Airport at 19:33 EST (00:33 UTC), headed for London. Everything was normal during take-off, but just before they would change ATC frequency and swap to the other crew, Miami control gave them a final heading that their flight would follow until they reached British airspace. The heading was recorded on the ATC records and the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) as 67°, but, according to the FDR (Flight Data Recorder), the First Officer, who was responding to ATC and later admitted to performing the action, accidentally adjusted it to 68° instead. This wouldn't be a problem if the jet wasn't following that heading for the next 4,000 miles. But, no one took notice of the issue, and the crew switched over, so the main crew could get some sleep. The new crew had no idea about the problem, and just assumed that the 68° flight path was just what the aircraft was going to be flying at, with no idea that it was the wrong course.

### Arriving in England

Hours later, the crew switched back over. As with the entire flight, nothing was amiss between the crew. As they were getting settled in however, a fuel warning light came on. This raised concern between the crew, but Flight Engineer Roberts had heard from his colleagues about BOAC's cost cutting measures, and informed the rest of the crew. Captain Evelyn was unhappy at the news that the airline was putting aircraft at risk like this, but they all agreed they could make it to Heathrow with the amount of fuel they had, since the airline had calculated it, and Roberts found there was still enough fuel left. They then contacted Heathrow's airspace ATC, to which they were met with the question, "SPEEDBIRD 729, what airport are you flying to?". The Captain responded, "Well, Heathrow. This is Heathrow airspace control, correct?" ATC then troublingly replied back, "Well if you're heading for Heathrow then you're off course by a lot. You're flying over the channel right now." And, sure enough, Flight 729 was flying over the English Channel, rather than flying over Devon, where they should have been. "Do you want to turn left to head towards Heathrow?" the controller inquired. The Captain, still unsure on exactly what the situation was, asked "Whereabouts are we actually?" The controller confirmed, "Like I said, the English Channel, south of Devon. If I'm being honest you look closer to France than Britain." The Captain, now realising what was going on, asked Flight Engineer Roberts to calculate how many miles of fuel they had left. Roberts told him they had about 150 miles of fuel left, and that considering the circumstances, they were not making it to Heathrow, but maybe had enough to get to Gatwick Airport. Captain Evelyn let ATC know the whole story, and set course for Gatwick Airport.

### The Diversion

The crew connected to Gatwick's ATC, and declared a 'pan', a sort of minor emergency. Continuing on path for Gatwick, the crew, particularly the Flight Engineer and Captain, discussed BOAC's "ludicrous" price cuts, and how dangerous they were proving to be. The crew agreed they would speak to as many higher-ups about the incident as they could. While flying over the Isle of Wight, more fuel lights began coming on. The crew became a lot more distressed, and Flight Engineer Roberts was becoming increasingly unsure that they could make it to Gatwick. Then, while approaching the turn towards Gatwick, engine 3 failed. Then 2, then 1, then 4. The fuel ran out faster than Roberts was expecting, and within two minutes, all engines on the aircraft were out, and the situation had just gone from something to raise with their managers, to something which might just kill them.

The crew, with no other options, continued their descent, in order to keep speed. They had to find a place to land, and fast. It didn't help that the nearest airport, Gatwick, was now out of range, and worse, the morning fog was making it hard to see. The three unanimously agreed the only way the 747 was going to land was in the English Channel. They alerted ATC, declaring an emergency in the process. ATC then sent out a message to the coastguard where they would likely be coming down, and Captain Evelyn informed the passengers of the situation, and told them all to prepare to brace for impact. As they descended below the clouds, their landing site became clear. But, as they were looking at the channel they had to land in, suddenly the First Officer cried, "Look, there! The lighthouse!"

### Beached

Looking over, the crew saw what the First Officer was pointing at. Over to the left was a patch of land, with a lighthouse at the front of it all. If the aircraft were able to fly over the lighthouse, they could touch down on the rocky ground and not have to ditch the plane. The crew decided it was the better option, and both the Captain and the First Officer tugged on the controls to move the aircraft over into that direction. Since all engine power had been lost, manoeuvring the plane became quite difficult due to the lack of power. After a while, the plane was lined up, and considering their vertical speed, it would not hit the lighthouse on its way down. As the ground grew closer and closer, the Captain called "Brace, brace, brace!" through the tannoy. The plane narrowly missed the lighthouse, and, at a vertical speed of -15 ft/s, smacked down onto the rocky grounds of Beachy Head.

Instantly, almost all the tyres were punctured in the impact, resulting in an even rougher landing. Some occupants were injured in the impact, including Flight Engineer Roberts who nearly cut off his ear on the side of the desk. The crew applied full brakes, spoilers, thrust reversers, everything they had. The gear grinded against the rough ground, and the whole aircraft continued to shake violently as it continued. But, the shaking began becoming less and less obvious as the aircraft slowed, as the crew pushed with all their might on the brake controls. And, with the front gear (or what was left of it) resting on the edge of the waves, and the left wing right up against the cliff, the aircraft came to a stop on the rocks of Beachy Head.

## Aftermath

The crew immediately ordered an evacuation, and all passengers cleared the aircraft in around 3-4 minutes. Everyone was forced to get out on the left side of the aircraft, as there was no land on the other side. After a radio from the crew, the coastguard soon arrived, and cleared everyone out of the area, taking people in groups to the nearby town of Eastbourne, since the cliff was too steep to climb. The crew were praised for their handling of the incident and working together as a team throughout, despite the First Officer's original mistake. After the cost cuts came to light, BOAC was shunned for its poor handling of the crisis, and would return refuelling rates to normal shortly afterwards. As for the aircraft, BOAC decided that they should repair it, rather than ordering a new one all together. This was likely because the 747 was only a few years old, and was worth about the same as just ordering a new one. The gear had to be fully repaired from the ground up and the left wing had been chipped slightly, but there was no other damage. Recovering the aircraft was a difficult task, since it was literally stuck in the ocean when the tide came in, but eventually it was recovered and repaired. G-AWNE remained in service with British Airways after the merger, and stayed with the airline until 1999. It was then sold to Kabo Air in 2001, and then finally scrapped.

The incident would be the last BOAC would ever face, and it would merge with BEA (British European Airways) the following year to form British Airways.