The fatal accident occurred on 4 March 1962 . A Douglas DC-7C named '' Star of Robbie Burns '' ( registration : G-ARUD ) operating the Douala — Lisbon sector of Caledonian Airways flight 153 ( a Lourenço Marques — Luxembourg charter on behalf of Trans Africa Air Coach of London ) crashed shortly after a night takeoff from Douala Airport 's runway 12 , killing all 111 occupants ( ten crew and 101 passengers ) . At the time of the accident , the weather was very hot and humid . After a long takeoff run on the airport 's long runway , the aircraft gained insufficient height to clear the trees close to the runway end . The aircraft 's port wing struck trees above aerodrome elevation , some from the runway end and from the extended centreline . This resulted in the aircraft crashing into a tidal swamp and exploding on impact . Although this was the only fatal accident in Caledonian 's history , it was the deadliest air disaster in British aviation history at the time . The commission of inquiry probing the accident determined that the evidence at the crash site seemed to suggest that a jammed elevator spring tab mechanism prevented the aircraft from attaining sufficient height to clear the obstacles in the runway end 's vicinity . This would have resulted in abnormal elevator control forces during takeoff . It was also consistent with tests showing this to prolong takeoff runs that had an attendant risk of losing height during flap retraction when the aircraft became airborne . The commission of inquiry also described a number of adverse features that might have aggravated the circumstances in which the accident occurred . It had furthermore not been able to exclude the possibility of an instrument failure as a probable accident cause as the instruments were either not recovered or too damaged for a valid expert examination
Caledonian Airways flight 153
Caledonian Airways Flight 153
Caledonian Airways