My father was an f/o for air Canada at the time. He had fond memories of flying with Capt. peter Hamilton to the U.K. and Germany. We were on holidays at Sauble Beach, Ontario, on July 5th. My dad found out about the accident in the newspaper. I was only 9 at the time but remember there was a weird feeling going around. This accident stuck with me, so later I asked my father about Capt. Hamilton. I found out that the Capt. was shot down while flying ops in ww2 and was a P.O.W. It has always bugged me that a pilot could survive his bomber being shot down in the dead of night by enemy fire and yet be killed on a calm summer morning because of a simple procedure error. It still bugs me. I would love to have met the man.

--Bill

The captain's name was Peter Hamilton. My father flew with this man on dc-8's as s/o and f/o . Peter Hamilton was on opps during ww2 (RCAF). By all accounts Hamilton was a pro in anybody’s book. It has always bugged me that a great pilot and crew can make a mistake that within 30 seconds can destroy an aircraft, crew and passengers. My dad told me that on final, with this series dc-8, you could deploy spoilers on auto as main gear started to rotate on contact with runway, or deploy the spoilers by hand (after touchdown) for a smoother landing. The horrible thing about this accident is that the f/o was trying to comply with the captains request but pulled the handle back, but then up. Pulling the handle up means full deployment of the spoilers and rapid loss of lift. Think about it. One second’s loss of concentration… Anyway, if it happened to this type crew, it can happen to the best.

--Carly Greenlee