New documentary to share personal stories from the Kegworth air disaster

The flight was on its way to Belfast from London when it crashed in 1989

17:29, 28 Dec 2025

View 2 ImagesFile photo dated 09/01/1989 the scene after a Belfast-bound British Midland Boeing 737 crashed on an embankment of the M1 at Kegworth after suffering engine trouble(Image: PA)

A new documentary will explore the human stories from one of the UK's worst air disasters.

Through deeply personal accounts, passengers remember the terror of the final moments of British Midland Airways Flight BD092 that crashed within sight of the runway at East Midlands Airport.

It should have been a routine shuttle flight from London Heathrow to Belfast on a Sunday evening on January 8 1989 but it became the centre of one of the UK's worst air disasters that killed 47 passengers and left scores injured.

In Kegworth: Flight to Disaster, on January 8 on BBC iPlayer and BBC One Northern Ireland, survivors, those first on the scene and crash investigators tell the story of Flight BD092 - with candid accounts of what it was like in the moments before the crash, the immediate aftermath and how the accident changed aviation forever.

A description reads: "The plane took off as normal just before 8pm. Mid-flight the plane started shuddering and passengers heard what some described as banging sounds or an explosion.

"With smoke and the smell of burning filling the cabin, the pilots shut down one of the plane's two engines and diverted for an emergency landing in East Midlands. Meters from the safety of the runway, the plane plunged into an embankment at the side of the M1 motorway around 8.25pm.

"Despite the catastrophic damage and wreckage drenched in aviation fuel, remarkably rescuers found survivors."

View 2 ImagesBelfast-bound British Midland Boeing 737 crashed on an embankment of the M1 at Kegworth

The one-hour film hears the personal eye-witness accounts from some of those survivors- some who have rarely spoken before - of the terrifying moments in the cabin before the crash and recall the agonising wait for rescue with the fear that fire would engulf the crash site.

Almost four decades on, the sights, sounds and smells these memories evoke are still evident.

The description continues: "Some of those first on the scene, including rescuers who stopped on the motorway to assist and first responders, recall the devastation of the crash site.

"Coming just weeks after a bomb destroyed Pan Am 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, air crash investigators scrambled to find a cause for the disaster.

"Rare archive footage and expert analysis give an insight into the chain of decisions that sealed the fate of 47 passengers while also illustrating how the lessons learned from the crash have been implemented across the industry."

The film also reflects on the effect the crash had on the town of Kegworth.

There are accounts of the essential role its residents played in the aftermath of the crash and how the town commemorates the disaster and ensures that the 47 passengers who died are not forgotten.

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Kegworth: Flight to Disaster airs on January 8 on BBC iPlayer and BBC One Northern Ireland

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References

^ Documentary detailing Titanic's final moments minute by minute to air this Christmas (www.belfastlive.co.uk)
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