I have to defend Captain Key regarding some of the comments made. Yes, he was old school, a world away from the two young co-pilots, he was a very experienced Captain and known to be by the book and dedicated to his job. I certainly feel that he was under stress that day; having been on an airport standby for most of it, the confrontation with the militant co-pilot in the crew room before his flight, then having a very young and inexperienced co-pilot sat next to him along with the poor weather. Like most accidents it was a combination of events that lead up to it. He was four years away from retirement and no doubt keen to maintain his loyalty to the company. In those days before CRM you never questioned the Captain or queried his actions; there was a culture of fear in some ways; all that changed after Papa India; as did crew medicals. Although Key had a medical and was fit to fly, he never undertook a stressed ECG which could have detected his heart condition and likely grounded him. The overwhelming sound of the stall warning horn going off, the stick shaker and the stick push all happening within seconds must have been too much for Key’s heart and being a good pilot he instinctively grabbed the control column to maintain flight not realising that someone had retracted the droops far too early. It was never determined who moved the droop lever; it could have been the co-pilot or Key himself. The Trident was peculiar in the sense that it had two levers one for the droops and one for the flaps; unlike modern jets that have a single lever for both. It was common to mistake the two and some close calls did occur on previous flights. After the accident a bulk was fitted to the droop lever to make if physically impossible to move it below 6,000 feet or 225 knots. If you want to hear the sound of a stall warning horn in a Trident; look up Trident three G-AWZI on KZfaq for a demonstration and also the stick shake. You may be able to appreciate how overwhelming it can be. Next year 2022 will be 50 years since the accident and under the 50 year rule more documentation will be released.

Still remember coming back from holiday with my parents at 10 years of age and seeing the wreckage of the Trident in the field adjacent to the road.

The Captain was ex-RAF and very senior to the other crew members. He had a reputation of being a bully and it was the norm at the time, not to question the actions of a senior officer, much like in the armed forces. I saw the glow from this accident as a kid, from my bedroom window. I still remember it vividly

Bonechilling. Everything that could go wrong in this Case did, pilot anger, crew mismanagement, failure of Health of a crewman, and poor mechanical design. Truly dreadful. Great video as always allec, rip to all involved!

I was 14 at the time and remember this cash happening. A few of us were on our bikes near the crash and hot footed over to the site. I can see the aircraft to this day having just gone down, it was horrific. The emergency services took their time in getting there as they were given the wrong location. Apparently they were beginning to think that it was a false alarm because they could find the crash site. Eventually they did of course (communication wasn’t brilliant in those days) and we, and many others who got there first were ushered away pretty quickly. A sight I’ll never forget.

I’m so sorry this was a crew with “bad mojo” among them. No one deserves to die like this. Allec, you are the ONLY Aviation channel that explains in such detail that even I, a non-Aviator, can understand. Thank you for that.

I live near Heathrow and I use to walk past the area where the plane crashed, this was about 30 years ago, but there was a real eerie quietness walking past that area and I had that feeling I was being watched. I only found out where it actually crashed a few years after walking past this area. Fascinating video, many thanks.

I don't like the idea of that noise abatement procedure. Pilots need to be focused on safely controlling the plane. Making them worry about something superfluous to safety going on their record, especially during takeoffs and landings, is frankly ridiculous.

Allec, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for all of the effort you spend making these videos. With out exception, I have found each one to be well made, and makes me feel like I am in the cockpit. Great work!

Back at the end of May, I had a heart attack resulting in a quadruple bypass. It was painful but I was still functioning, setting up a glass of aspirin, packing a bag, calling for an ambulance, and even going to the loo. If captain Key was having a heart attack, he was possibly functioning, but unable to make normal radio conversation. The other cockpit crew would probably not know that he was having a heart attack, and thought that his terseness was due to anger, not pain. He really should have said something. Without a CVR it's impossible to know what conversations did take place.

Everyday, thousands of motorists drive the section of the A30 in Staines past this crash site, most having no idea that England's worst plane crash took place just a hundred yards off the roadway (Pan Am 103 was Britain's worst but that wasn't in England.) When this Trident crashed, it had very little forward speed and sort of pancaked down on the field, and was only about two minutes into its flight from Heathrow. Hundreds of local people came out to see the wreck, in some cases impeding first responders from getting to the site. This crash highlighted the importance of cockpit resource management, among other things, and for junior pilots being able to challenge senior pilots in a non-hostile environment. We'll never know exactly what was going on in the cockpit of BEA 548 but what is known is that the three men up front were flying a perfectly good airplane...which makes this all the more tragic.

The captain was stressed and may have had a heart attack or something close. Sad that we'll never know for sure. Shows why you have to keep personal disputes out of the cockpit at all times. So sad. Nice video, Allec-

I remember this very well from the time. At the very hour of this flight, I was flying in a De Haviland Comet from Tangiers to London Gatwick. There was much talk at the time as to whether the current Noise Abatement Climb procedures were correct.

It was a miracle nobody on the ground was killed, the Trident hit a small field surrounded by houses, I think even overhead cables running across the field were untouched.

In 1972, I was 15 years old and lived not far from where this sad event took place and still remember seeing the incident on TV news! I also used to cycle many times to Heathrow Airport from my house around that time, to go plane spotting for the day with my mate. Consequently, we used to see many planes taking off from the same runway that this Trident did i.e. Runway 27R. RIP to all!

I remember this crash. Every passenger was found just sitting in their seats, dead. RIP

It says near Staines. In fact it was in Staines by the A30 main road near what was the Crooked Billet Public House, also when my brother inlaw was a fireman it was his first shout. And my late neibour was one of the first nurses on the seen, and never flew again after that.

One of those early accidents where a CVR would have been so useful. The UK Channel 4 documentary series from the 90s "Black Box" covers this incident really well. A very good video, thank you.

Great video as always-I enjoy when you are able to add photos of the crew as we get a lil more “insider” stuff. Thanks again for your hard work and dedication. Hope your aviation career is going well!

Great video Allec, one I didnt know much about until now...thanks again, always worthy of a thumbs up.

I've read a lot about this tragic crash. An absolute disaster in every way. Team spirit and teamwork are essential in the cockpit. Good video allec as always.

Allec always rolling up on us every Thursday night🌙 like the boss he is with always the best work ! We do appreciate you alot Allec ...and hope flight school is going well for you..you deserve the best in life sincerely!❤💯

Fatal mixture of human stress, both mentally and physically, inexperience and poor technical design. Under such condition, if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. R.I.P.

This was the most informative video I have seen about this sad crash. Thank you for posting.

I'm in the UK, always watching plane crash simulations and yet I'd never heard of this! So sad, brilliant video as always though!

Thank you Allec for your remarkable video, but also it’s sad to see plane ✈️ crash lost lives,

I can definitely see the two “kids” in the cockpit being intimidated by the captain. I’m retired law enforcement and I was 22 when I got hired. I would’ve never dreamed of standing up to a senior officer, let alone an officer with rank. Most of them were Vietnam Vets and weren’t about to take any crap from a rookie.

The crash of Trident 1C G-ARPI had a huge impact on UK aviation. To this day at Heathrow it is still a talking point that raises it's head every so often.....

Pure incompetence. The airplane tried to save them multiple times and yet apparently with a pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and extra jump seat pilot, NOT ONE could figure out the reason for the stall and, indeed, just sat there while INCORRECT FLIGHT CONTROL INPUTS were shoved in by the pilot. Insane.

An excellent documentary on this crash came out around 1989. Like Alec here, it explained the toxic pilot group dynamics going on at BEA at that time. Capt Key was a former WWII RAF bomber pilot who’s seniority most likely formed his opinions against the younger pilot group seeking better working conditions. The doc I watched did mention that Capt Keys demeanor on that flight may have had him barking out orders to two highly inexperienced 2nd officers who dared not cross him. Such a sad and extremely unfortunate confluence of events that brought down this jet.

The age of the first and second officer astonishes me. Not that young pilots are inherently bad, but the lack of experience would suggest to me that strong backup is prudent. Two relative novices in the cockpit? I'd have wanted to switch one out for someone with more experience.

I was about 10 when this happened and remember it well. The broken wreckage photos were all over the newspapers. It's amazing that no one seemed to see it crash.

I always think of the passengers and how they are sitting there just wanting to get from point A to point B and not knowing they are moments away from death ...

A former fellow-worker on the railways on the Slough Reading stretch had witnessed this and confessed he still "wasnt the better of it", when he told me 2 years later.

Wow. That was interesting! Nice work, Allec!! 💕✈💕✈💕✈

It wasn't just a series of unusual aviation errors or unfortunate coincidences that downed this plane and caused an awful tragedy - but a medical condition compounded by a pre flight emotional outburst leading to a sour cockpit and almost unavoidable mental distress withheld from the other inexperienced crew. This made me see this tragedy more clearly than ever before: and I now feel enormous sympathy for EVERYONE on board. I meant to walk to the site in recent years, and am only less than 2 miles away this evening. Incidentally, I'm still flummoxed they were in the air a considerable time and yet only made it to Staines - a stones throw away.

I don't normally comment on your videos, but they are of exceptional quality and thank you. I remember the Staines crash very well. I was 5 and my Mum was in a local hospital at the time, in Staines. I remember saying to my dad, why was there so many emergency vehicles driving past. It was on the news when we got home. Take care, Jeff

Thanks Allec. Superb as usual. Flying tomorrow. Have no idea why I am watching this but at least it is a Qantas 737. Should be OK.

Allec: I just want to let you know that your videos' are excellent. My only complaint against them is that the situations you depict actually happened, and in far to many cases innocent lives were lost (obviously NOT your fault!). You do good work! Keep it up!

Very well done and while I still wish you’d make the words easier to read some times I appreciate your attention to detail and the accurate explanation of events very well done sir👍🏻👌🏻💯

A terrible day indeed….I believe the positioning crew member was found stretched out across the controls trying to intervene but too late….

Great video like always love the og sim gives me lots of nostalgia

They never throttled up after their noise abatement routine did they? If not the first officer should have done it, they were doomed without enough thrust, but when cleared to climb to 6,000 feet he throttled back. That makes no sense whatever so it's not all on the beleaguered captain. It's sad. I'm surprised the throttle settings weren't even discussed.

When drive an airplane, there's a lot of things need to keep: concentration and anger management. Here, the crew failed both of it.

Incredible. Did neither of the other pilots look at the airspeed and throttle settings?

I was walking to a 'blind date' at the far end of Egham when the crash happened. The date never happened. At the roundabout at the bottom of Egham hill a stream of traffic wa travelling towards Staines. I was surprised to see how many mothers were taking the children to rubberneck as the accident. The increased traffic was one reason for delays in ambulances reaching the crash site. It was just after five in the evening, rush hour, and in any case all roads around Heathrow were often congested. The M25 was supposed to improve this. There was no emergency helicopter at Heathrow in those days. A work colleague had a private ambulance, when he got there the passengers looked normal except for blood from noses and ears, all dead, except for, he said, one or two including a baby or small child. But none could be got to Ashford hospital. It was said that the pilots deliberately placed the plane into the field; literally seconds later it would have hit residential houses, but I doubt this as the plane was stalled and probably could not manouvre.

On a side note here? Great job with the video Allec. You're a busy man now I'm betting- your video quality hasn't changed- top notch- My rant was for the scenario presented, and in no way reflects on anything you did- just to clarify, lol.

BAE Trident was a pretty unique air craft. Very fast but short range (Mach 0.9?) No fatalities through failure of the aircraft. Named Trident because it had triple redundancy in the hydraulic systems.

I can only imagine what a CVR would have picked up, not a healthy work relationship at all & a tragic ending!

Thank you.

Was the fear of failing noise abatement a reason for not adding more power as the plane went into stall?

Hi Alec. Thank you so much for the video. I love your video's. They are really insightful. May I please ask you to make a video about Hansie Cronje's plane crash of 2002 in George, South Africa. I would love to see an animation of it. Thank you so much and keep posting 🙂

Great Video Alec! I remember seeing the crash pics on the front pages of newspapers! I have flown on 2 Tridents (BEA & Channel Airways) a very fast and excellent plane apart from being rather small! I believe a Test crew stalled one in Norfolk UK and lost their lives while investigating the stall thresholds!

Wow... the fact that 2 people initially survived this crash.

I remember this accident - and i remember the distinctive noise on take off a trident made, let alone the smoke. RIP all

I was 5 years of age, back in 1972, and we had just moved to Sunningdale, Berkshire, by the A30. We used to drive to my grandparents' house in Harrow, and I remember passing the crash site, in Staines, by the reservoir. That would have been a few days after the tragedy.

one of the best eps in a while

I remember this accident. I think there were a lot of rubberneckers who drove out to the site. I don't think the plane caught fire. After the emergency services turned up some of the leaking fuel ignited and caused a lot of panic to the sightseers. There was an inquiry into that. I think it was over an hour after the crash! Also there were questions asked about a can of aerosol found in the cockpit.

Before CRM and with a steep cockpit gradient. Also significant to a deep stall is the Trident’s T tail in the wing’s shadow during high pitch up.

Most of the other issues have been addressed in the comments, but I would just like to add that I am glad investigators attempted to ascertain who scribbled hateful graffiti on the aircraft tables. This childish and distracting behavior has NO place among members of a flight crew, and the guilty party should be investigated and disciplined. There are proper channels through which crew members can voice their concerns. The ONLY concern of ALL crew members once having boarded the aircraft MUST be safe execution of the flight...innocent souls are depending on it. The graffiti proves that the vengeful attitude of one of the crew members was indeed coming on board the aircraft with him. RIP to all who perished. Excellent video by Allec, as always.

Thanks for another interesting, dramatic, and historically prescient video Allec! You're the best!

Great video as always, but so senseless and tragic. So how is flight school going?

Excellent.

How does an experienced pilot (or even in inexperienced one) pull back on the stick when warned of an impending stall?

Hey Allec, you should check out VASP flight 375, a crazy suicidal mission attempt that happened here in Brasil in the 80s. The captain did a barrel roll and a spin dive with a 737 (both never attempted before with that kind of aircraft) trying to knockout the hijacker.

Another great video Alec. I don't believe I had ever heard of this crash prior. What's the exhaust coming out of the engines at 9:17 from/due to?

Brilliant simulation. And brilliant, poignant music to accompany the sad real-life pictures.

For those of you downplaying Allec Joshua Ibay need to realize that no one knew of the Flight Channel before he started posting these videos and neither did anyone have any interest besides Air Crash Investigations. The Flight Channel is great in its own right. However, the incidents are a recreation of what Allec puts on his channel with a newer flight simulator software. This is straight to the point and no multiple camera angles that take away the veracity of the incident. So, for those who love TheFlightChannel, stick to it. However, please refrain from downplaying someone else’s work. These recreation are not a simple task. Keep it up, Allec.

I was 13 when this happened and recall hearing about it on the 5 o clock radio news and then seeing it on the 6 o clock news on the TV. We had only recently got our first TV and so it was amazing to see something that had only happened two hours earlier. Amazing there was no fire as it must have been loaded with fuel.

I enjoy your story of this crash. I have seen another, more dramatic infotainment version.

A very sad and tragic accident. RIP.

This happened within my lifetime and I'm astonished I've never heard of it until today.

When there is graffiti IN the cockpit, you know you're screwed.

Wow, thanks for explaining all the details, Allec. Stress does cause bad judgment and impacts health. Very sad

Multiple things are usually required to bring about an airplane crash. In this case, everything happened.

As others in this thread stated; this situation was a textbook example of a 'perfect storm'. RIP to all

I'm probably among only a few who felt sorry for the captain,

Had a CVR been installed, it probably would have had: "All right, what's all this then!??!" picked up seconds before the end of the recording🕵

This incident was the basis of an episode of Air Disasters.

Finally dude ! :-) Only BOAC Flight 911 and Air Canada Flight 621 to go, on my bucket list for this channel now :-)

Am I the only one wondering about the technical issues happening on the runway just before takeoff? Also I'm surprised to learn there was no CVR on board the plane, but then since it was 1972 maybe they weren't required yet on airplanes at that time? A CVR would have been helpful in this investigation. Thanks for bringing this story to us Mr. Allec.

when a stick shaker activates , you pull back on the stick ...brilliant idea

I remember this one, and Allec, you portrayed it well as usual. The Trident was hardly to blame; its design tried its best to over-ride the poor input of the pilot. He ignored and over-rode the automatic stall-avoidance feature. That is highly culpable I blame the pending strikers. I didn't know Key opposed striking (I thought he was on the other side ) but Britain was riddled at the time with "industrial disputes" and this needless loss of life was one consequence. Unions have a great deal to answer for.

What trident add on did you use for this?

So sad 😭

While the cause of accident were pretty clear, but who did it in first place wasn't known due to lack of CVR. CVR become mandatory after this accident in UK commercial aircraft

Hello Alec.. I wonder if you could make videos on two Dan Air accidents that occurred in the 80's (i believe).. B727 GBDAN from Manchester UK to Tenerife Los Rodeos that crashed into a mountain side killing all on board. ( this was around the same time as the well published B747 crash between PanAm/KLM also at Los Rodeos.. The Dan Air accident seems to be overshadowed by this... ALSO Dan Air Flt DA1008 Comet 4 GAPDN crash from Manchester to Gerona (Barcelona) that crashed into woodland.. Thank you. .

Have been witness to people in the industry that are nothing but malcontents. They'll whine and cry about things, unappreciative they have a friggin job! Didn't cause this crash...but can relate to Key's frustration when dealing with whiny kids at work.

This crash is why CVRs are now mandatory on transport category aircraft in the UK.

Error number one. The runway was 28R. It was only renumbered due to changes in magnetic north in circa 87/88.

That aircraft had it's tail section knocked off twice. Spooky.

stalling and not reacting to it properly seems to be one of if not the most common causes of accidents. Shows extremely poor training and/or screening of pilots. It's so basic - if you have a stall warning you (if at all possible) always increase power and never pull up until the warning is cleared. it's so obvious that even if stressed, tired, in pain it should be easy.

12:19 only if you count both airline and incident on British soil. Deadliest in uk is Lockerbie. Deadliest involving UK airline is that dan air flight

AKA the Staines crash. So horrific in that there were no survivors in the end. Obviously a big case of generation gap and no crew resource management at all. The plane looks very complicated to fly. While I can understand that no one like to hear jet noise all the time, regulations should not be there if it's going to endanger the lives onboard which it may have here.

Glad I didn't prematurely make a comment only half way through the video.

The fact two people initially survived still shocks me.

In 1972 Heathrow' westerly runways were 28 Right and 28 Left. they didn't change with magnetic variation to 27 Right and Left until maybe 1980. So 'Bealine 548' departed 28R not 27R. fwiw.

I knew as soon as they touched the droops at that air speed, they were doomed to a fatal belly flop. Tragic 😔

First officer and flight engineer both very young and likely cowed by the attitude and reputation of the pilot

Never heard much more about the Trident after this crash......