BOAC Flight 781(1954)

BOAC Flight 781(1954)

On 10 January 1954, BOAC Flight 781 a de Havilland Comet 1 (type DH-106), took off from Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy en route to Heathrow Airport in London, England on the final leg of its flight from Singapore. At about 10:00 GMT, the aircraft suffered an explosive decompression at altitude and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, killing everyone on board.

The flight was operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) using the aircraft G-ALYP.

Investigators at the RAE were able to conclude that the crash had been due to failure of the pressure cabin at the forward ADF window in the roof. This 'window' was in fact one of two apertures for the aerials of an electronic navigation system in which opaque fibreglass panels took the place of the window 'glass.' The failure was a result of metal fatigue caused by the repeated pressurisation and de-pressurisation of the aircraft cabin. Another fact was that the supports around the windows were riveted, not glued, as the original specifications for the aircraft had called for. The problem was exacerbated by the punch rivet construction technique employed. Unlike drill riveting, the imperfect nature of the hole created by punch riveting caused manufacturing defect cracks which may have caused the start of fatigue cracks around the rivet. The investigators examined the final piece of wreckage with a regular microscope.

Source: Wikipedia