LOL Harrier pilot ejects at beach Dee De Dee

This cought my eye this morning aparntly this pilot had some mech problems


[edit on 20-9-2007 by semperfi221]

[edit on 20-9-2007 by semperfi221]

[edit on 20-9-2007 by semperfi221]

That crash was Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK in 2002 and the board of inquiry found it to be the result of pilot error, not mechanical failure.

news.bbc.co.uk...

news.bbc.co.uk...

Yup, I was there..

IIRC as he pulled the lever to move the jet from hover to forward flight he caught something which killed the engine power.

The Harrier was left in the water for quite some time too before they could get the equipment there to pull it out.

[edit on 20-9-2007 by Stoo]

I've never seen that footage before - WOW! I love watching military planes especially harriers. I'm surprised that they fly them that close to what appears to be civilians out enjoying the beach. I would have loved to see that in person!

If you crash a multi million plane like that are you permenetly grounded?

All that water around and he still landed on the hard surface of the plane. ouch.

[edit on 20-9-2007 by Redge777]

I believe you get demoted and temporarily grounded. I doubt it's grounds for permanent as the aircraft is still recoverable and possibly even fly worthy after repairs.

Shattered OUT...

Originally posted by ShatteredSkies
I believe you get demoted and temporarily grounded. I doubt it's grounds for permanent as the aircraft is still recoverable and possibly even fly worthy after repairs.

Shattered OUT...

No, that type of crash will over stress the airframe, it will be decommissioned and struck off the asset list - the cost would be too high to return the airframe to flight condition, especially as its had a dunk in salt water as that would add extra cost.

Various parts will probably be reconditioned, including maybe the engine and weapons, others will be beyond use.

Originally posted by Makuahine
I've never seen that footage before - WOW! I love watching military planes especially harriers. I'm surprised that they fly them that close to what appears to be civilians out enjoying the beach. I would have loved to see that in person!

The angle is a bit deceptive, it was more than 400 metres away from the crowd, as per regulations