On 3 July 1970, the de Havilland Comet 4 aircraft serving the flight crashed into the wooded slopes of the Serralada del Montseny near Arbúcies, in the Province of Girona of Catalonia, Spain.

[3][4] Flight 1903, which had departed Manchester Airport at 16:08 local time, encountered air traffic control (ATC) delays in the Paris area, resulting in a change of route.

Approach control cleared the crew to overfly the Sabadell non-directional beacon (NDB) 14 miles (23 km) to the north of Barcelona VOR and descend further to FL060.

In fact they were still 28 nautical miles (32 mi; 52 km) north of Sabadell at the time, over the Serralada del Montseny, a mountain range in which the highest peaks rise to over 5,600 ft (1,700 m).

At approximately 18:05 local time, the aircraft crashed into a group of beech trees on the northeast slopes of the Les Agudes peak at an altitude of about 3,800 ft (1,200 m).

[2][1][5] The aircraft, operated by Dan Air Services Ltd, was a de Havilland DH 106 Comet series 4 (registration: G-APDN, construction/manufacturer's serial number: 6415) that had its first flight in 1959.