1954 жылғы Эльба аралы маңындағы ұшақ апаты

1954 plane crash near Elba Island, Italy

BOAC Flight 781 was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation passenger flight from Singapore to London. On 10 January 1954, a de Havilland Comet passenger jet operating the flight suffered an explosive decompression at altitude and crashed, killing all 35 people on board. The aircraft, registered had taken off shortly before from Ciampino Airport in Rome, en route to Heathrow Airport in London, on the final leg of its flight from Singapore. After it exploded, the debris from the explosion fell into the sea near the island of Elba, off the Italian coast. G ALYP was the third Comet built. Its loss marked the second in a series of three fatal accidents involving the Comet in less than twelve months, all caused by structural failures; it followed the crash of BOAC Flight 783 near Calcutta, India, in May 1953, and was followed by the loss of South African Airways Flight 201 in April 1954, which crashed in circumstances similar to 781 after departing from Ciampino Airport.

Flight 781 was commanded by Captain Alan Gibson DFC, age 31, one of BOAC's youngest pilots. The first officer on Flight 781 was William John Bury, age 33. He had flown a total of approximately 4,900 hours. The engineer officer was Francis Charles Macdonald, age 27, and the radio officer was Luke Patrick McMahon, age 32. They had logged 720 flying hours and close to 3,600 flying hours, respectively. Many of them were students of schools in the United Kingdom and had visited their families that had been residing in Asia. Three employees of BOAC and one employee of British European Airways were passengers on the accident segment. Additionally, six passengers were related to BOAC employees. Among the casualties were Chester Wilmot, a prominent Australian journalist and military historian working for the BBC, and Dorothy Beecher Baker, a Hand of the Cause of God for the Baháʼí Faith. Wilmot first joined the flight in Rangoon, and Baker first joined the flight in Karachi. Flight 781 departed from Rome at 10:31 CET (09:31 UTC) on 10 January 1954, on the final stage of its flight to London. At about 10:50 CEST, a BOAC Argonaut, registration G ALHJ, piloted by Captain Johnson, which was flying the same route at a lower altitude, was in contact with Captain Gibson. During a radio communication about weather conditions, the conversation was abruptly cut off. The last words heard from Gibson were "George How Jig, from George Yoke Peter, did you get my—". Soon afterwards, witnesses saw wreckage falling into the sea. Witnesses to the crash were a group of Italian fishermen who rushed to the scene to recover the bodies and to search for possible survivors, of whom there were none. The aircraft wreckage was eventually found on the sea floor; it was subsequently raised and transported to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) for investigation.

To find more evidence concerning the cause of the crash, the bodies were brought to the coroner for post mortem. During the examination, pathologist Antonio Fornari found broken and damaged limbs, which had apparently occurred after death. He also discovered in most of the victims a distinct pattern of injuries, consisting of fractured skulls and ruptured and otherwise damaged lungs, which he identified as the actual cause of death. Fornari was confused by the pattern of injuries because he could find no evidence of an explosion. While the official investigation efforts began, BOAC were determined to return their Comets to passenger service as soon as possible, and succeeded in doing so on 23 March, just ten weeks after the crash. BOAC's chairman commented on television, "We obviously wouldn't be flying the Comet with passengers if we weren't satisfied conditions were suitable." However, a second BOAC de Havilland Comet, registered G ALYY, was lost on 8 April 1954: a charter flight, operating as South African Airways Flight 201, departed from Rome bound for Egypt with fourteen passengers and seven crew on board; thirty three minutes into the flight the pilot reported on course flying at 10,000 metres, then all contact was lost. Sir Arnold Hall, a Cambridge University scholar and scientist and then head of the RAE, was appointed as the head accident investigator.

The Comet's pressure cabin had been designed to a safety factor comfortably in excess of that required by British Civil Airworthiness Requirements (BCAR)—the requirement was 1.33 times P with an ultimate load of 2 times P (where P is the cabin's "Proof" pressure), but the safety factor used in the Comet was 2.5 times P—hence the accident led to revised estimates for the safe loading strength requirements of airliner pressure cabins.

There is a memorial in the cemetery of Porto Azzurro, where some of the victims are buried and with a list of those (20) whose remains were never found.

This accident was featured on National Geographic's Seconds from Disaster, "Comet Air Crash".

Official Report (1955), Report of the Public Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of the accident which occurred on the 10th January, 1954, to the Comet aircraft G‐ALYP. Stewart, Stanley (1986/89). Air Disasters. Arrow Books (UK). .