 The court of inquiry convened to review the crash determined that "XA897"'s approach was affected by poor visibility due to heavy rain (three Russian TU-104 aircraft carrying the Bolshoi Ballet had already been diverted away from Heathrow to RAF Manston that morning) and that the aircraft was not equipped to use the instrument landing system (ILS) installed at Heathrow.The approach was undertaken using a ground controlled approach (GCA) (the first time Howard had done this).Howard attempted to abort the landing at Runway 01 Left, believing he was at he applied power but his aircraft collided with the ground which removed his undercarriage and severely damaged the Vulcan's control surfaces.