Winter Hill air disaster


The Winter Hill air disaster occurred on 27 February 1958, when the Silver City Airways Bristol 170 Freighter G-AICS, traveling from the Isle of Man to Manchester, England, crashed into Winter Hill at a point several hundred yards from the Independent Television Authority's Winter Hill transmitting station.
Thirty-five people died and seven were injured. The ICAO report stated that the accident occurred at 9:15 AM. At the time, the weather was so severe that none of the engineers working in the ITA transmitting station were aware of the crash. Several feet of snow hampered rescue efforts, and a snow cat vehicle had to be diverted from the A6 to cut a path for emergency vehicles, even though the track had been cleared by people using spades just previously.

Background

The flight was a charter flight from Ronaldsway Airport on the Isle of Man to Manchester Ringway Airport. It was flying a group of mostly Motor Traders to visit the Manchester Exide Battery Factory and Manchester car show.

Crash

The Silver City Airways Bristol 170 Freighter G-AICS, call sign "Charlie Sierra", was due to fly from Ronaldsway Airport, Ballasalla, on the Isle of Man to an aircraft reporting point at Squire's Gate, about from Blackpool. The aircraft was flown by Captain Cairnes at an altitude of due to low cloud and other air traffic in the Manchester area. After receiving clearance from air traffic control at Manchester Ringway Airport, Captain Cairnes flew Charlie Sierra inland to Wigan Beacon, a non-directional beacon in the Manchester Zone, which transmitted a recognition signal of "MYK" in Morse code on a frequency of 316 kHz and a range of c.. Due to a number of navigation errors in respect to the radio compass bearings and altitude readings, the Silver City Bristol Freighter crashed near the summit of Winter Hill, five miles southeast of Chorley, Lancashire at 9:15 AM.

Passengers and Crew

Thirty-five of the passengers were killed, the majority of whom were connected with the Isle of Man motor trade. The three crew were among the seven souls who survived with injuries.

Investigation

An error by the first officer in tuning the radio compass to the Oldham Beacon frequency instead of the Wigan beacon one was the probable cause.