British European Airways Flight 548

Uncommon card · No. 120821

British European Airways Flight 548 was a scheduled passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels that crashed near Staines, England, United Kingdom, shortly after take-off on 18 June 1972, killing all 118 people on board. The accident became known as the Staines air disaster. As of 2026, it remains the deadliest air accident (as opposed to terrorist incidents) to have occurred in the UK and was the deadliest air accident involving a Hawker Siddeley Trident. Initially, there were two survivors of the accident; a man, who was discovered in the remains of the aircraft cabin, and a young woman, but both later died of their injuries. The aircraft had entered a deep stall in the third minute of its flight and had then descended steeply until it crashed into the ground, narrowly missing a busy main road. The public inquiry principally blamed the captain for failing to maintain airspeed and configure the high-lift devices correctly. It also cited the captain's undiagnosed heart condition...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Chris England, CC BY-SA 4.0