British European Airways Flight 945

British European Airways Flight 945 was a commercial flight from Saudi Arabia to London, with a stopover at Stockholm. On 20 December 1989, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 747 Combi named Devon, flew into a cloud of volcanic ash. The plane landed safely in Tallinn.

Aircraft
The aircraft involved, a Boeing 747-200B Combi registered G-SABF and named Devon, was delivered to British European Airways in November 1989.

The Boeing 747-200B Combi model permits the mixing of passengers and cargo on the main deck according to load factors on any given route and Class B cargo compartment regulations.

Crew members
Three flight crew and sixteen cabin crew manned Flight 945.

The captain, Brian Qinten, age 38, had been a BEA employee since 1983. Qinten had logged over 9,000 hours of flight time, 900, of which were in the 747.

Flight 945's first officer was Michael J. Dirac Jr, age 33. Dirac had logged 5,600 flight hours, including 90 in the 747. The flight engineer, Hal Ferdinand, age 32, had logged 4,300 hours of flight time, including 43 in the 747.