Pilot and family killed in 1964 flight
The pilot and three members of a Youghal family were killed almost instantly after the blue and yellow Piper Comanche in which they were travelling got into difficulty seconds after take-off and nosedived into the ground just outside the airport boundary. Maureen Gaule, her 25-year-old dentist son Brian and 12-year-old son John were being taken on what should have been a 30-minute pleasure trip over Cork by British pilot James Coupe.
Mrs Gaule’s husband, Patrick Gaule, declined to take part in the flight but watched the take-off from the airport. Despite making what was reported to be a perfect take-off, the plane only made it to 150 feet before black smoke started pumping from the engine.
Witnesses said the pilot appeared to attempt a left-hand-turn possibly in a bid to regain the runway but the aircraft stalled and nose dived into the field.
Mr Gaule sprinted from the airport, across the runway to the scene of the crash and emergency services also rushed to the accident site.
However, investigators would later determine that the aircraft’s occupants had been killed instantly. In a cruel twist of fate, Reverend E Hegarty from Ballyphehane, who was called to the scene and rendered spiritual assistance to the victims as they were taken out of the wreckage on stretchers was himself later killed in the crash of the Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount flight 712 at Tuskar Rock in 1968.
One of the witnesses to the 1964 crash was Margaret Martin (pictured).
“I was working in Cork Airport and was one of the first ground hostesses there,” she said.
“I worked with Tony Ryan who was my immediate boss. He and I were sitting on the apron in the sun because we were not terribly busy at that particular time. Flights were few and far between, maybe two or three flights per day.
“I remember as we watched him take off, he was about a couple of hundred feet up and we saw black smoke coming out of his engine. He crashed straight down out of the sky and blew up. It literally fell out of the sky in front of us.”
“The bodies were actually brought into the customs hall. It was horrendous. The staff of the airport and the fire engines went out and brought them in and laid them out,” she said. “We were absolutely traumatised. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards.”
A NUMBER of incidents relating to landings at Cork Airport have been probed by the Air Accident Investigation Unit in the last decade.
A mix of commercial passenger aircraft and smaller planes used in training exercises have been involved but there were no major injuries or deaths.
- Late October, 2000: On a very wet afternoon, an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin drifted towards the right-hand side of the runway shortly after landing with 51 passengers and four crew on board. The Fokker 50 went off the runway and over soft ground for about 195 metres before stopping. There were no injuries, minor damage was caused to the plane and some damage was caused to the runway.
- May 29, 2001: The flight crew on an Aer Arann flight from Dublin with 45 passengers experienced severe airframe vibrations during the descent and an emergency was declared. After landing without further incident and no injuries, it was found that a large panel at the joining of the wing with the ATR42-300’s fuselage had become detached along one edge.
- September 8, 2003: As a Boeing 737-500 with 19 passengers was approaching to land on a flight from Dublin, a loud bang was heard from the landing gear. The crew landed it normally and an inspection found that a pin in one of the main landing gears had sheared.
- October 11, 2005: During the approach to land, the commander of an Airbus A320 flying 96 passengers on an Aer Lingus service from Amsterdam saw a large flock of birds. He decided to carry out a go-around, meaning to abort the landing and try again, but a number of birds hit the plane during the manoeuvre. Nobody was injured.
- June 4, 2006: A Ryanair flight from London Stansted made its approach too high and had to do a go-around, but dropped to an altitude of just 425 feet above ground level over the suburb of Bishopstown during its second approach. The Boeing 737-800 landed normally and there were no injuries to the 134 passengers and crew.
- August 1, 2006: The left main landing gear of a light aircraft collapsed on landing and the plane sank on the runway, causing further damage to the plane. The student pilot and his instructor were unhurt.
- March 3, 2007: Shortly after touchdown from a training flight at Cork Airport, the instructor on the Piper light aircraft realised the braking performance was poor. The student applied hard braking and the main tyres deflated as the wheels locked up, and the plane went onto grass at the end of the runway.
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