The world seemed normal the morning that British Airways flight 548 was destined to take off. However, everything changed when the plane took off...
Here We Go...
British European Airways Flight 548 departed from the London Heathrow airport on June 18th, 1972. The plane was carrying 118 passengers on a direct flight to Brussels. This seemed like any other flight, but the passengers had no idea what was in store.
Going Up
As the passengers entered the cabin, the flight attendants gave their normal speeches about safety, comfort, and respecting one another on the plane. Their spiel was interrupted stifled argument coming from the front of the plane. There was something dangerous brewing in the cockpit...
The Chief of the Operation
The captain, Stanley Key, was the one whose voice was the loudest. He was a former Royal Air Force pilot who flew for the British army in WWII. He was a decorated veteran, and he never had a single mark against him while flying in the commercial airline industry following the war. But today, he was acting strangely...
Not Everything Is as It Seems
Despite his unusually high set of skills for a commercial airline pilot, Key was flustered that day. It seemed as if British Airways was using him to cut some corners without consulting him first. Once Key clued into what was going on, he snapped...
Here's the Deal
You see, when Captain Stanley Key agreed to pilot this direct flight to Brussels, he wasn't introduced to his co-pilot prior. He didn't think that this was a big deal since the vast majority of co-pilots he had worked with through British Airways were extremely well trained. He was in store for quite the surprise...
The Scourge of the Industry
Just three days before Key was scheduled to fly flight 548, he found out that his scheduled co-pilot wasn't particularly experienced at all. In fact, his co-pilot, who's name was Jeremy Keighley, had only spent about 22 hours in the cockpit of a plane.
British Airways was using Key to train this dummy, without asking him, because he was so experienced they figured that Keighley would pick up some passive information along the way. Key absolutely lost his mind about the situation. He couldn't pilot a plane with a rookie like this. He couldn't trust an inexperienced co-pilot to fly him to safety if something were to happen...
Key Was Fed Up
To top it all off, British Airways seemed to be sabotaging Key because he had recently gotten into an argument with a first officer. Key couldn't walk away from work, and Britsh Airways knew that. They were taking advantage of his undesirable position...
Pushing It Onto the One Who Would Listen
To make matters worse, as soon as Key composed himself and apologized to Keighley before takeoff, British Airways called the plane and demanded that Key delayed takeoff to accommodate thirty more passengers. Although they were already at capacity, and Key knew that the delay would put them in a near-disastrous time crunch, he reluctantly halted the takeoff...
Conditions Were Worsening
It was a cold, windy, rainy day in London. Usually, pilots would wait for the runway to be cleared of any water before they took off. However, Key was under a lot of pressure, so he doubled down on his focus and decided to take off anyway. He knew that he had to be off the ground thirty minutes before the decided takeoff time, so he chose to trust his instincts and fly under the stress.
Disaster Strikes
Once Key got the plane off the ground, his anxiety dropped a little bit. Still, he was extremely uncomfortable and felt a little weak and sweaty because of the stress. At least, that's what he thought it was from. As Key began to relax, his inept co-pilot made a serious error by accident Key didn't notice soon enough...
A Critical Mistake
Unbeknownst to Keighley—because he had no idea what he was doing and shouldn't have been put in this situation in the first place—he made a deadly mistake. He had flipped the wing flaps down instead of up. This caused the plane to nosedive right about the top of flight 548's descent.
Key to the Rescue
This nosedive caused one of the plane's engines to stall. Fortunately, Key was able to recover and pull the plane back up to ascension. However, Key started feeling a wild tightness in his chest. Suddenly, his entire view of the cockpit started to narrow. He slipped out of his chair onto the carpet, completely unconscious...
Dire Circumstances
After Key hit the ground, Keighley screamed. His scream attracted one of the flight attendants. She took Key's pulse, noticed he wasn't breathing and his heart had stopped. She started administering CPR, but Key was unresponsive.
Worst Case Scenario
As Keighley looked on in horror, he noticed the plane started dipping again. He flipped the same switch that he accidentally flipped during the plane's ascension, but he just caused the other engine to stall. The plane began nosediving at terminal velocity with two useless engines...
Two Boys on the Ground
Meanwhile, Paul and Trevor Burke, ages 9 and 13, were taking a stroll near the King George Reservoir in Staines-Upon-Thames, a small town outside of London. The two were walking on a small path that ran underneath a major highway. The two halted their march to watch flight 548 plummet from the sky towards the ground, eerily close to them.
The First People on the Scene
The two boys watched in horror as the plane fell, engines ablaze, and barely miss the highway and the path. The two ran towards the plane but didn't know what to do. They waited for 15 minutes for first responders to show up, but it seemed to be too late...
Testimony From the Lads
“It was just coming out of the mist when the engines stalled and it seemed it glided down. It was just like a dream. The plane just fell out of the sky,” stated Trevor Burke. When the first responders arrived at the scene, so did the media team. The reporters interviewed the boys, and also refused to let them get any closer to the wreckage.
The Terrible Truth
When the first responders were able to extinguish the flames and bust into what remained of the cockpit, there wasn't much to be found. Two individuals were rushed to the hospital. Outside of them, nobody survived...
A Horrible Tragedy
British Airways flight 548 is still one of the greatest airborne tragedies in the history of air travel. Immediately after the crash, British Airways shut down, gave all of their pre-striking employees enough pay for an entire month. They worked on developing a deep investigation into what happened.
There are Few Answers, Outside of the Obvious
In theory, despite all of the events that had taken place on the plane prior to the crash, the plane should not have stalled. If it didn't stall, the plane would have continued to glide in the air, and the co-pilot would have attempted to land it at the nearest airport. Something was fishy about the whole thing, and British Airways wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery ASAP...
Let's Break it Down
So, outside of the obvious reasons, why did this plane crash? Well, for starters, the Hawker Siddeley Trident aircraft (which was the brand of the plane that flight 548 was) had a long history of problems. Specifically, this aircraft had faulty wiring and engine stalling issues...
Stalling, Among Other Issues
This model of plane was notorious for its communication problems from the cockpit to the engine. Specifically speaking, if one thing went wrong in the cockpit, the plane didn't have a system to fix itself, and avoidable stalls would occur. If the plane had an autocorrelation system, or even just better wiring, this likely wouldn't have happened...
Consider the Condition
Nowadays, if captain Key were to try and become a pilot, or join the Air Force, with a preexisting heart condition, he would be politely asked to walk away. Additionally, his co-pilot would have never gotten off of the ground in the cockpit. Regulations are much more strict nowadays, and even back then this shouldn't have happened...
Addressing the Disaster
Instead of taking responsibility for the accident, British Airways temporarily rebranded themselves as British Airlines and avoided publicizing the incident. They fired all of their employees and rehired new crewmembers who had to go through massively different training than the prior staff did. The company also installed recording devices in the cockpits of all of their planes to monitor pilot interactions...
Memorializing the Event
Two memorials were made dedicated to the plane crash. Part of the British Airways training regiment (in specific areas) is to bring potential new hires to the memorial site and remind them of what happened in the past. An event like this is unbelievably unlikely nowadays, and technically, it wasn't even the pilot's fault...
Airline Disasters Don't Happen Much Anymore
Fortunately, crashes are much less likely to occur nowadays. It's safer to fly on a plane than drive in a car! The only reason media companies cover plane crashes so frequently is that they are more clickable than car crashes...
However, the Reality is Still Dangerous
Although, no matter what your chances of getting hurt are, there is always the potential to be in a sticky, unpredictable situation. Accidents happen constantly, but you cannot live a healthy life without assuming some sort of risk. If you want to leave your home, you need to shoulder that fact...
Life is Risky
Especially right now, life is risky. But, if you follow predetermined guidelines on how to keep yourself and others safe, things should theoretically be fine. Always wear your seatbelt, wear a mask when you're in public, and treat others the way you want to be treated...
The Real Danger Came From the Airline
If British Airways didn't cut corners, flight 548 wouldn't have crashed. But, because they tried to save a few bucks by hiring a cheaper co-pilot, the plane crashed. This is a common example that unfortunately shows itself all over the world. If companies put more effort into ensuring the safety of their consumers instead of making the highest possible profit, accidents like this would never happen...
Facing Danger Head On
Ultimately, you are your own lifeline. It is your responsibility to keep yourself and others out of danger. By avoiding danger yourself, and being considerate of others, the world becomes a much safer place. Always listen to your flight attendant, and always be conscious of the risks you need to take to live on a daily basis.