Red Arrows pilot killed in incident at RAF Scampton

Red Arrows pilot killed in incident at RAF Scampton

www.bbc.co.uk

A Red Arrows pilot has died after being ejected from an aircraft at the aerobatic team's base in Lincolnshire.

The RAF confirmed the pilot was ejected from a Hawk T1 jet while it was on the ground at RAF Scampton.

(visit the link for the full news article)

the second pilot of the Red Arrows has been killed in an accident, the second this year, it appears that it was an issue with the ejector seat and the pilot was ejected from the aircraft whilst still on the ground.

East Midlands Ambulance crews were called to the scene at about 11:09 GMT, along with the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

Eyewitnesses close to RAF Scampton reported seeing one of the Hawk aircraft with a smashed canopy, according to BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale.






www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

This being the second death in a short space of time, to come upon the men and women of the Red Arrows, ones heart must go out to them all , and the families of the dead aviator.

The first incident was thought to have been caused by a bird strike of some sort, but why would someone eject while thier aircraft was on the ground? Was this a deliberate action, or was this the result of some sort of mechanical fault with the ejector? What circumstances could lead to an ejector seat firing at random?

This is a terrible business, and I would hope that a full and detailed investigation is carried out to prevent such a incident being repeated. Wether mechanical fault or not, something very wrong happened on that airstrip , and someone needs to find out why .

Now there will be even more calls for them to be grounded permanently.
Clears skies and strong head winds. RIP.

thoughts are with the family and team at this time
rip

I cannot imagine a likely scenario that would cause an accidental ejection on the part of the pilot. So I would think that this was some sort of malfunction in the ejection mechanism. I am not familiar with the mechanism on that particular aircraft, but I imagine it takes a deliberate pull like the egress setups on other aircraft.

Most aircraft have a handle located between the legs at the front of the seat, although some planes have them on the sides of the seat...There are more still that have a curtain that is pulled down from above the pilot's head, which covers the face and initiates the ejection sequence, in which the canopy comes off and the seat itself is guided along a set of rails, and rockets are fired to push the seat up and away from the plane.

I would venture a guess to say that not being at the proper ejection altitude is what caused this horrendous death. The seat is coming out of the cockpit at a very high velocity, but I do not think the parachute would have time to open before the pilot and the seat itself come crashing back to Earth.

So again, I say this was probably some sort of malfunction. I have never seen or even heard of a seat that can be activated by something as simple as a button, so I do not see how it could have accidentally been triggered.

Sitting on an ejection seat is like sitting on a live bomb. I believe that the seat in the Hawk aircraft is a zero-zero seat. This means that a safe ejection can be made at "zero" altitude and "zero" airspeed. I wonder what the circumstances were for the ejection. If the pilot was strapped in, he should have walked away with nothing more that a sore back. Right now the most important thing is to learn the cause and circumstances of this accident, in order to prevent it from happening again.

It's another sad occurrence for the Red Arrows but it seems telling to me that although the Red Arrows are to be grounded again, the RAF's fleet of Hawk T1's are still going to fly, so it looks like an equipment malfunction isn't suspected

The RAF said its thoughts were with the pilot's family. It confirmed Red Arrows training had been suspended, but that RAF's Hawk T1 fleet would still fly.

BBC news

reply to post by JiggyPotamus


As far as i am aware the Bae Hawk uses the Martin Baker MK10 Ejection Seat it has a single pull handle between the pilots legs, there is a manual override also.

The seat is a zero-zero seat so would punch the pilot clear of the aircraft if sitting on the ground, the canopy of a hawk doesn't get ejected the aircraft has a dyno cord arrangement in the canopy which detonates and shatters allowing egress, the picture on the BBC site shows the shattered canopy.

spec sheet






It could have been a miss fire in the ejection system, or it could be a number of different thinks, from the picture on the BBC website it looks like the aircraft were on the pan so it maybe something that happened during pre flight test checks.

- Seat firing handle pulled causing seat initiation cartridge to fire - Harness retraction unit operated, command firing initiated - Primary cartridge fired causing inner and intermediate pistons to rise, releasing top latch - Seat rises up guide rails - Miniature detonating cord trip initiates canopy fracturing system - Secondary cartridges fire in turn as seat rises - Electrical connections separate disconnecting seat actuator circuit, IFF switch and oxygen regulator supply lead - Aircraft portion of main oxygen generating system block separate disconnecting main and back-up oxygen - Personal equipment connector aircraft portion disconnects from seat portion - Anti-g suit hose disconnects - Leg restraint lines draw back and restrain aircrew’s legs - Leg restraint lines become taut and rivets shear, freeing lines from floor brackets - Trip rods withdraw sears from drogue gun and barostatic time-release units - Emergency oxygen trips - Remote rocket initiator operated by static line, cartridge fires to ignite rocket pack - Rocket pack sustains upward thrust of ejection gun, diverging trajectories for front and rear seats - After delay mechanism has operated, drogue gun piston fires - Ejected piston withdraws closure pin from closure flaps of drogue parachute pack and deploys drogues. - Deployment of drogues stabilize and retard the seat and aircrew - Low altitude/High speed - - Seat descends stabilised by drogues - Barostatic time-release unit completes run and fire - High speed/high altitude - - Barostatic capsule operates to prevent parachute deployment above pre-determined altitude - Barostatic controlled g-switch delays parachute deployment above 7000 ft until speed and g-force are reduced - Barostatic time release unit operates below pre-determined altitude, completes run and fires - Manual separation (override) used if automatic system fails - Gas from cartridge used to - Free drogue shackle link - Release parachute mechanical lock - Operate upper harness locks and lower harness release mechanism to free lower harness lugs, negative-g straps, leg restraint lines and personal equipment connector man portion - Drogues withdraw parachute from container - Sticker straps momentarily hold aircrew in seat - Parachute develops, lifts aircrew and survival pack from seat and pulls sticker clips from clips causing aircrew and seat to diverge - Normal parachute descent follows - Aircrew releases either of two quick-release connectors to lower survival pack to end of line - Survival pack opened manually when necessary

reply to post by weemadmental

I just looked at the picture at the BBC site. Why am I getting an awful feeling that the pilot was doing a maintaince run-up and wasn't strapped into the seat?

reply to post by weemadmental



According to Red Arrow Ejection History

Pilot ejected from one of the jets while on the ground and his parachute did not deploy.

Sounds like the canopy shattered as designed and rockets fired, but the chute failed.

I hate these type of things. So sorry.

Press release from Martin-Baker

RAF Red Arrows Incident on 8th November 2011

On 8th November, there was a fatal accident involving the Red Arrows Hawk aircraft XX177 following the ejection of a Mk10B seat.

We have had the opportunity to examine the seat and, while not wishing to pre-empt the outcome of the investigation currently underway, are satisfied that neither a mechanical nor a design fault were to blame for the fatality.

We welcome the opportunity to assist the Lincolnshire Police and the Military Air Accident Investigation Board in identifying the causes of this tragic accident

In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham who lost his life in this accident.

From

www.martin-baker.com...

RAF Scampton is where the Dambusters took off from in 1943.