Investigation Summary
Flight 1903 was a charter flight carrying holidaymakers from Manchester to Barcelona. Due to air traffic delays over Paris, the aircraft followed a modified route through French and Spanish airspace. As the aircraft approached Barcelona, the crew was instructed to turn toward the Sabadell NDB. During this maneuver, the crew reported passing the beacon prematurely. Coincidentally, a radar echo appeared over the Sabadell NDB at the exact moment of the crew's report. The Barcelona controller, believing this echo was Flight 1903, confirmed 'radar contact' and cleared the aircraft to descend to 2,800 feet. In reality, the Comet was still over the high peaks of the Montseny Massif. The aircraft struck beech trees on the slopes of Les Agudes at approximately 3,800 feet while in a descent. The investigation highlighted that the lack of Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) on the aircraft and the controller's reliance on a coincidental radar return were primary factors in the disaster.
Final Conclusions
The Spanish Air Ministry concluded the accident was caused by a combination of erroneous reporting by the crew and a coincidental radar echo that misled air traffic control. The crew believed they were over the Sabadell NDB when they were actually 28 miles north, and the controller's confirmation of their position based on an unrelated radar return prevented the detection of the navigational error. The aircraft was cleared to descend to 2,800 feet in an area where the terrain exceeded 5,000 feet.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
29 hours in command on type.
First Officer
Flight Engineer
Systems & Failure Modes
Non-Directional Beacon (NDB)
A ground-based radio transmitter used for navigation; the crew mistakenly reported passing the Sabadell NDB while still 28 miles away.
Primary Radar
Used by Barcelona ATC; a coincidental echo from another aircraft was mistaken for Flight 1903, confirming the crew's erroneous position report.
Interesting Facts
- 01The accident remains the deadliest crash involving the de Havilland Comet series.
- 02The aircraft was not equipped with Distance Measuring Equipment (DME).
- 03The crew mistakenly reported passing the Sabadell NDB when they were 28 nautical miles north of it; the actual impact site was approximately 23 nautical miles from the beacon.
- 04The impact and subsequent explosion destroyed 125 acres of private beech wood.
- 05The Captain had only 29 hours of command experience on the Comet 4 at the time of the accident.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Radar Identification Procedures
Source ↗The investigation recommended stricter adherence to ICAO procedures for radar identification, emphasizing that controllers must not rely on coincidental timing between a crew's report and a radar echo without positive identification through turns or other verification methods.