From the Wikepedia entry on "Ottery St Mary" - now that's the definite proof that MJN was there:

Air crash
One evening in July 1980, a disaster was narrowly averted when an aircraft on approach to Exeter Airport crash-landed just on the outskirts of the town, in a field where the cricket club now stands. The aircraft, an Alidair Vickers Viscount turboprop, flying 62 passengers from Santander to Exeter was eleven miles short of the runway over a wooded area on East Hill, just before the town, when it ran out of fuel and all four engines stopped.
The pilot, who knew the area, was able to bank left and glide over the town's southern edge and make a wheels-up crash-landing in a field. The aircraft was put down at 19.53 hrs, in daylight, near St Saviours' Bridge, in a small grassy valley studded with trees. The was 27 year-old aircraft was written off in the crash.[17] The only casualties were two sheep.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded that the accident had been primarily caused by the crew's mistaken belief that there was sufficient fuel on board to complete the flight. The aircraft's unreliable fuel gauges, the company's pilots' method of establishing total fuel quantity and the imprecise company instructions regarding the use of dipsticks were also considered to be major contributory factors. Meter indications on the refuelling vehicle at Santander, which could not have accurately reflected the quantity of fuel delivered, were also considered to have been a probable contributory factor.
The accident investigation report concluded, however, that the aircraft commander's handling of the emergency once the aircraft's four engines stopped had been skilful and assured. Had he not acted in the way he did there could have been a considerable loss of life both for aircraft passengers and for residents of the town. One of the propellers from the aircraft was later donated by the airline to the town to be auctioned for charity.
The town still lies under the flightpath for Exeter International Airport. Aircraft regularly pass overhead, mostly turboprops operated by Flybe. There are about 20 such flights a day.
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I can imagine their talk:

DOUGLAS: We could go to Bristol, I believe. People do. However, we've easily enough fuel spare to hold for twenty minutes, maybe even thirty.
MARTIN: Yeah, I'm sorry, but we are diverting.
ARTHUR: Yeah, hang on a tick though, If Douglas reckons twenty minutes..
MARTIN: No, let's not hang on a tick. Let's listen to the Captain, shall we?
DOUGLAS: Of course, Martin, if you say we divert, then divert we shall.

Obviously they did not divert and sadly nobody had the idea of smelling smoke in the flight deck....

Happy Birthday to John Finnemore who's 35 today!

Charm available at Macy's.

Go ahead. Say it. Yellow car!

Last edited by veecee (October 4, 2012 11:55 pm)

Maybe you could do some research and post you results for us. 

Of course I did. It's the law. 

Can you build those cabin pressure instruments into your car?    That would be interesting.... 

Davina wrote:

They might make an interesting decoration for the mantelpiece- not of your car, obviously!

How could you know? 

Last edited by Mattlocked (October 6, 2012 11:52 am)

Well, it's not very healthy to have a mantelpiece in the car.... 
okay.... not exactly... but at least one could decorate it.


.

Last edited by Mattlocked (October 6, 2012 12:18 pm)