Portal:Disasters/Selected anniversary/January 2007
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The Kegworth Air Disaster occurred on January 8, 1989, when British Midland Airlines Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway near Kegworth, Leicestershire, UK. The aircraft was preparing to land at the East Midlands Airport. During the final approach to the East Midlands Airport, more fuel was pumped into the damaged engine to maintain speed, which caused it to cease operating entirely and burst into flames. The captain attempted to restart the right engine by windmilling, using the air flowing through the engine to rotate the turbine blades and start the engine, but the aircraft was by now flying too slowly for this.
The captain managed to keep the now-gliding aircraft airborne long enough to avoid a crash landing in the village of Kegworth by pointing the nose up and stretching the glide, but just before crossing the M1 motorway, the tail hit the ground and the aircraft bounced back into the air and over the motorway, crashing on the opposite embankment and breaking up into three pieces. Forty-seven of the 118 passengers (126 people on board including flight staff) died (39 at the scene, 8 later). All eight of the flight crew survived the accident. Of the 79 survivors, 5 had minor injuries and 74 were seriously injured. No one on the motorway was hurt (and no vehicles were damaged), although one driver did subsequently receive damages for post-traumatic stress disorder.
