The aircraft was deployed as a scheduled international passenger flight from
Beauvais Airport, Oise, France to
Lympne Airport, Kent, United Kingdom. The aircraft departed Beauvais at 15:51
UTC (16:51
local time) carrying 4 crew and 48 passengers. The weather at Lympne at the time the aircraft departed Beauvais indicated that visibility was , with wind at from 220° and a cloudbase of . After passing
Abbeville, an updated weather report was sent to the aircraft which showed a visibility of in drizzle, cloudbase and winds of from 220°, gusting to . The visibility was below the minimum requirement of for landing, although the captain was later informed that visibility had "improved slightly". At from touchdown, an
IFR approach was initiated under the guidance of the radar controller at Lympne. When the aircraft was from the airport, it was at an altitude of above airport level. The captain reported that he could see the end of Runway 20 through the drizzle. At from touchdown, the aircraft ran into severe turbulence and drifted to the right of the runway centre-line. Full flap was applied and power was reduced. The aircraft crossed the airfield boundary at , reducing to as the
landing flare was begun at a height of . As the throttles were closed, the starboard wing dropped and the rate of descent of the aircraft increased. The captain attempted to keep the aircraft level, with the result that it landed heavily. This was the first Avro 748/HS 748 to be written off in an accident. Skyways Coach-Air leased an Avro 748 from
LIAT for two years in 1968 to replace the aircraft lost. The grass runway at Lympne had previously suffered from waterlogging, leading to the closure of the airport in December 1951, and again in February 1953. A new concrete runway was constructed in early 1968, coming into use on 11 April. ==Investigation==