The weather has, in the past, severely affected flight operations. Back in 1956, a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) flight crashed as an unpredictable weather cell loomed over Kano, Nigeria.BOAC was operating a service from Lagos, Nigeria to London, England with stops in Kano, Nigeria, and Tripoli, Libya. After an uneventful first leg, the aircraft failed to take off at Kano Airport and crashed, leading to multiple casualties, including both passengers and crew. The aircraft operating this service was a Canadair C-4 Argonaut registered as G-ALHE.

Canadair C-4 Argonaut

The Canadair C-4 Argonaut was based on the design of the successful Douglas DC-4 aircraft. Towards the end of the Second World War, the DC-4 was used extensively on civilian routes around the world, which was the reason why Canadian Vickers, an aircraft building firm, purchased the rights to develop an upgraded DC-4.

Canadair then bought Canadian Vickers and inherited these rights, which led to the development of the Canadair C-4 (also known as Canadair North Star). This re-engineered version of the original DC-4 had a longer range and a higher cruising speed, which made it a more desirable aircraft to fly on.

Trial flights were conducted by the Royal Canadian Air Force, but after approval from the Canadian government, BOAC took the delivery of all civilian Canadair C-4s and used them on intercontinental routes to Africa and South America. Even in the 1970s, the aircraft was still in use, although many were converted to cargo aircraft as other more fuel-efficient aircraft took their place in the passenger fleets.

The flight

The aircraft departed Kano Airport in Northern Nigeria at 5:21 pm on June 24th, 1956, heading to Tripoli, Libya. However, there was heavy wind and rain at the time, which made takeoff and landing more challenging. As the aircraft climbed after takeoff, the pilots realized that they were actually losing altitude. They applied full power, but that resulted in the aircraft hitting a tree towards the end of the runway. Of the 45 souls onboard, which consisted of 38 passengers and 7 crew, a mere 13 survived.

British_Midland_Canadair_C4_G-ALHG
British Midland, BOAC's competitor, also operated the Canadair C-4. Photo: RuthAS via Wikimedia Commons.

Investigation and the cause of the crash

The next day, the British authorities immediately dispatched a team of investigators to Nigeria to find out the cause of the crash, led by the Director of Civil Aviation. Following some extensive checks and interviews, they ultimately determined that an unpredictable thunderstorm cell was the main cause of the crash.

This cell caused the wind speed, wind direction, and rainfall to change suddenly, which meant that the aircraft lost altitude very quickly. The unpredictability of the cell meant that it was not visible to the naked eye, and that even meteorological equipment could not detect the formation of such a cell at Kano Airport. They, therefore, believed that no individual was to be blamed for the crash, and instead advised international authorities to issue new guidelines for what to do in poor weather conditions.