Shortly after take off in low visibility from Runway 06 at Shannon Airport the aircraft veered to the left and descended contacting the ground some 1600 metres from the start of the take off run and 185 metres left of the runway centre. The occupants (pilot and four passengers) were killed and the aircraft was destroyed. The investigation concluded that the accident was caused by the pilot failing to maintain a positive rate of climb after taking off in visibility conditions below company minima. Contributory factors indicated are : low pilot experience on the aircraft type, and the degree of attention required because of the undesirable flying qualities of the aircraft.
NOTE: This Investigation was conducted prior to the formation of the AAIU as the Safety Investigation Authority (SIA) of Ireland. The content and structure of the Final Report may not align with current best practice, including the identification of organisations and individuals involved in the investigation. The Final Report is reproduced here as it was originally published by, inter alia, the Government Stationary Office or the Government Publications Office, and therefore is already in the public domain. In many cases, due to the date of publication, the Final Report has been scanned from the original printed edition, which may affect the quality of the digital version available on the AAIU website.
