Knight Air Flight 816 Crashes Near Leeds Bradford Airport (1995)
On the evening of May 24, 1995, a small commuter aircraft operating as Knight Air Flight 816 turned back toward Leeds Bradford Airport after reporting trouble shortly after departure. Minutes later, the twin-engine turboprop went down in a field near the village of Dunkeswick in North Yorkshire, killing all 10 passengers and both crew members. The disaster remains one of the deadliest civil aviation accidents in the history of the airport, which serves West Yorkshire and the broader Yorkshire region.
The Flight and the Emergency
Flight 816 was operated by Knight Air, a small regional carrier that flew feeder and charter services connecting Leeds Bradford Airport with other British airports, often carrying workers and business travelers on short-hop routes. The aircraft involved was an Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante, a Brazilian-built twin-turboprop commonly used across Europe in the 1980s and 1990s for regional commuter operations because of its ability to serve smaller runways with limited passenger loads. Shortly after taking off from Leeds Bradford on the evening of May 24, 1995, the crew reported a problem aboard the aircraft and requested to return to the airport. Air traffic controllers cleared the flight to come back and prepared for its arrival, unaware of how quickly the situation aboard the aircraft would deteriorate. Within minutes of the initial call, radio contact with the flight was lost, and the aircraft failed to reappear on approach to the runway. The exact nature of the technical issue reported by the crew became a central focus of the subsequent investigation, as did the challenging weather conditions in the area that evening, which limited visibility for the returning aircraft attempting a visual approach back to the airfield.
Did You Know?
The aircraft involved, an Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante, was a Brazilian-designed commuter turboprop small enough to carry just a dozen or so passengers, making it a common choice for short regional routes like those flown by Knight Air in the 1990s. Despite the aircraft's small size, the crash near Dunkeswick became one of the deadliest air disasters connected to Leeds Bradford Airport's history.
The Crash in Dunkeswick
The Bandeirante came down in open farmland near Dunkeswick, a small village in North Yorkshire located several miles from Leeds Bradford Airport, along the flight path the aircraft would have followed while circling back for landing. All 12 people on board, comprising two flight crew and ten passengers, were killed instantly in the crash. Emergency services, including police, fire crews, and ambulance personnel from across West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, were dispatched to the rural crash site once the missing aircraft was located. The wreckage was found scattered across the field, and rescue teams worked through the evening confirming that there were no survivors. The crash shocked the local community, as Dunkeswick was a quiet rural area unaccustomed to aviation disasters, and it drew widespread attention across Yorkshire given the airport's importance as the region's principal commercial airfield, serving Leeds, Bradford, York, Wakefield, and Harrogate.
Investigation and Aftermath
In the wake of the crash, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), the UK body responsible for examining civil aviation accidents, launched a formal inquiry into what caused Knight Air Flight 816 to crash so soon after its emergency return was initiated. Investigators examined the aircraft's systems, the crew's handling of the reported technical fault, and the environmental conditions present that evening, including visibility and cloud cover around Leeds Bradford Airport. The findings from such investigations typically informed subsequent recommendations regarding small commuter aircraft operations, crew procedures during in-flight emergencies, and approach protocols at regional airports. The accident remains a somber chapter in the history of Leeds Bradford Airport, which itself has undergone significant ownership changes since 1995, moving from public ownership to private investment, first through Bridgepoint Capital's £145.5 million purchase in 2007, then to AMP Capital in 2017, and most recently to Spain's AENA, which acquired a majority stake in December 2025. Despite these transformations, the 1995 disaster is still remembered locally as a defining tragedy connected to the airport's decades-long history.