6th May 1997

Newspaper plane crashes at Jersey Airport

Two crew had a lucky escape when their Fokker F-27 crashed on its final approach to Jersey. The plane had been nearly three hours late arriving, due to poor weather and strong crosswinds at Jersey.

Heavy landing

The crew were bringing in the morning papers from Bournemouth and landed heavily on the front wheel rather than the under-wing wheels. The front wheel collapsed into the body of the aircraft, then the main landing gear retracted as the aircraft bounced up and back down onto the runway, causing the plane’s undercarriage to hit the concrete runway. It slid forward on its belly for 15 seconds, eventually coming to rest on the grass off to one side of the paved surface.

The plane was damaged by the double impact and its extended slide. When the landing gear collapsed, the propellers hit the ground and were damaged, and the nose section was bent out of shape. Fortunately, it could still be repaired and returned to service.