January 9, 2014, by Lindsay Brooke

25 Years on the BBC’s One Show talks to Kegworth crash surgeon

Professor Angus Wallace will appear on the BBC’s One Show tonight to talk about his research in the wake of the Kegworth air crash which led to improvements in flying safety.

Professor Wallace, an expert in orthopaedic and accident surgery, experienced the disaster, on 8 January 1989, from two different perspectives. Twenty five years ago he was at the Queen’s Medical Centre when many of the survivors were brought in. He also played a key part in investigating aircraft safety following the crash – co-ordinating an enquiry into passenger injuries. His research through The University of Nottingham took six years to complete.

British Midland Airways flight BD92, on route from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast, had been diverted to East Midlands Airport after a blade in one of its engines had fractured. But when the second engine stopped working the plane crash landed just a few hundred yards from the runway, hitting the embankment of the M1. The crash claimed the lives of 47 people.

In a forthcoming programme in the BBC  ‘Reunion’ series Professor Wallace will be reunited with two of his patients. He will meet up with Chris Thompson and Dominica McGowan who were seriously injured in the accident.

Below is the article published in the University’s Exchange magazine in February 2009 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Kegworth disaster. Picture courtesy of the Nottingham Evening Post.

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