A new study of the 1968 Tuskar Rock air tragedy in which 61 people died has concluded the cause of the collision may have been as a result of "structural failure of the aircraft, corrosion, metal fatigue, ‘flutter’ or a bird strike."
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From a reformatted version of the original appendices to the report on accident to Viscount 803 Aircraft EI-AOM near Tuskar Rock. Photograph: Air Accident Investigation Unit
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The investigation, which is the third to be carried out on the Tuskar Rock tragedy, did not establish a definitive cause for the crash.
The crash, on March 24th, 1968, claimed the lives of all 57 passengers and four crew members of the Aer Lingus Viscount aircraft St Phelim.
The craft was on a scheduled flight from Cork Airport to Heathrow in London when it plunged into St George's Channel off the Wexford coast.
The independent study, carried out by an expert international team praised the efforts of the Aer Lingus crew in keeping the stricken aircraft flying for thirty minutes after the "initial triggering failure."
The report states: "A structural failure of the port tailplane is consistent with the evidence relating to the loss of EI-AOM ... an initial event, which cannot be clearly identified is considered to be some form of distress affecting the horizontal tail of the aircraft.
"Possible causal factors are metal fatigue, corrosion, flutter (vibration in a control surface which may cause control difficulty and lead to a structural failure) or a bird strike."
The investigators also rule out any British military involvement: "We have carefully examined all aspects of the tests conducted in the UK ... on that Sunday. It is our opinion that all theories involving the presence of another aircraft can be rejected."
The suggestion of another aircraft or missile being involved was first raised in the original 1970 report which suggested another aircraft may have been involved, "either a drone target aircraft or a missile."
The report recommends that files in relation to the accident "should now be closed." But the Department of Public Enterprise said the file would remain open if new evidence were ever to come to light.