Tragic accident today not even flying. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15647222 Sad day for the team and family of the pilot.
OMG thats horrible, i remember watching them as a kid, when they used to fly over Doncaster, from old Airport which is now Robinhood airport. Sad news ;(
Tragic, I'm puzzled though as I thought that they had Martin baker ejector seats that should prove survivable even at ground level. poor dude must have broken his neck as he exited the Hawk...well sad
Not very good news to hear..I hope this doesnt seal the fate of the Red Arrows & they too are grounded for good RIP to the pilot who passed away
It seems the explosive cord in the canopy failed as well. Normally it would blow a hole through, and it seems the seat fired him through it. Think of Goose in Top Gun and you get the idea. Such a sad loss.
It is very sad news indeed. As some of you know, I am an ex weapons engineer in the RAF, and used to work on Ejection seats on Hawk and Tornado aircraft. Just to dispel some of the rumours, here are some facts about that type of Martin Baker Ejection seat: It is a zero/zero seat - that means it will eject successfully with zero forward velocity and zero height, making an ejection from the ground possible due to a rocket pack fitted to the base of the seat. The canopy does have MDC (minature detonation cord) fitted. This should detonate and shatter the canopy before the seat has started to travel up the main gun rail. If the MDC does not initiate then the top of the seat is fitted with canopy breakers, which effectively shatter the canopy as the seat hits it. This is far from ideal, but will save life. The ejection seat is an amazingly complex piece of kit, with 137 different actions taking place on initiation until the parachute is deployed, all taking place within 1.2 seconds. The seat is fitted with seven safety pins to prevent inadvertent initiation of the seat, every time you enter or exit the cockpit these have to be fitted, and are vigorously checked by everyone. The last pin to be removed is the main seat pan pin, this then puts the seat "live" and is only removed by the pilot once fully and completely strapped in. I am sure it goes without saying that are thoughts and wishes are with his family. Steve.
Steve. Thanks for that enlightening post. Karma to you. What do you suspect happened - I know you'll just be guessing.
Thats really sad & seems such a crap way to die (is there a good way) Every kid loves the red arrows. I know I did.
