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 | | Friday, 8 February, 2002, 15:43 GMT Crash plane was not de-iced  The airport was closed for two days after the crash A private jet which crashed at Birmingham International Airport killing three pilots and two businessmen, had not been de-iced despite freezing temperatures. An accident report into the crash on 4 January reveals that although temperatures dropped to a low of minus 9C, no request was received from the aircrew to de-frost the jet. The aircraft, which was returning to the USA, was carrying three American pilots, Thomas Boydston, Robert Norton and Timothy Vandevort. The executives on board were John Shumejda, the president of agricultural company AGCO and the company's senior vice-president for sales and marketing, Ed Swingle.
They had been returning to the USA after a meeting at AGCO's Massey Ferguson subsidiary in Coventry. The report said a number of witnesses saw frost or ice on the wing surfaces of the Challenger before it took off. "Other aircraft which had been parked overnight, were de-iced during the morning. "Neither crew member requested de-icing, so N90AG was not de-iced prior to departure." Data recovered from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder showed the take-off was apparently normal. But just two seconds later, the plane banked to the left and hit the ground. Once the plane hit the grass the fuselage started to break up moments bbefore the fuel tanks ruptured and the aircraft burst into flames. The crash closed the airport for two days, causing disruption to more than 400 flights and 30,000 passengers. | |   See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
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