IslayBlog.com -> 2007 -> Plane Crashes on Islay

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09/Apr/2007

Plane Crashes on Islay

Plane crashes on Islay are a very rare event, but as one of them involved a very famous person I thought I write a post about it. I have mentioned that Prince Charles has been involved in a plane crash on Islay in a previous entry, when he was visiting Laphroaig Distillery in 1994. Today I found some more information about the accident:

Via the PPRuNe forum I found an archive page from the Ministry of Defence providing a link to a scan of the accident report and review (click on the link in the archive to download a PDF of a scan of the report). For a different perspective on the crash read the then Laphroaig distillery managers Ian Henderson memory of the day. In short, the plane crashed because it attempted to land with a too high speed in a tail wind. Prince Charles was at the controls of the plane when it crashed on Islay airport, having taken over from the regular pilot (the Prince has a pilots licence).

While this accident only resulted in some bad press for the Prince and probably some damaged egos (well, apart from the damaged plane), another accident was a bit more serious. Back in 1986 a plane crashed when the pilots mis-identified Laphroaig for Port Ellen in poor visibility. The plane crashed into a hillside above Laphroaig, unfortunately one of the crew members died in the accident. All the 14 passengers survived, some only with minor injuries.

Apart from these two accidents I haven't heard of any serious incidents in recent history, so there's no need to worry when flying to Islay. The staff at Islay Airport Glenegedale is highly trained with a 7 strong fire crew and 2 fire engines. Airplane technology and safety have also been improved over the years since those two accidents.

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