Yes.
Posted on 10/22/2010 10:51:53 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
Former RAF fighter pilot Mark Williams, 50, who lives near Grantham, Lincolnshire, said he looked in the mirrors of the RAF Tornado to check on colleague Mike Harland but saw ''nothing''.
Mr Williams was flying the fighter-bomber upside down around 5,000 feet above Norfolk in November 2007 when Mr Harland fell to his death while strapped in his seat.
The inquest in Norwich has heard that Mr Harland's ejector seat had not been properly fitted.
Experts think it slipped when the plane was inverted, automatically causing the rear part of the cockpit canopy to shatter.
Jurors have heard that the seat struck the fin of the Tornado GR4, causing damage which would have prevented either of the two parachutes from working.
Mr Harland, 44, also a former RAF flyer, from Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, suffered multiple injuries and his body was found in a field near South Creake, Norfolk.
The inquest has been told that Mr Williams and Mr Harland, who both worked for BAE Systems, had flown from RAF Marham near King's Lynn, Norfolk, to test the two-seater fighter jet after a lengthy service which included the fitting of new parachutes.
Mr Williams landed the damaged plane safely after making a distress call and was unhurt.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Oops?
The UK miltary seems to be falling apart
Holy Crap!
Test pilots have a lot more nerve than I ever will.
Sounds like they’re gonna be grounded.
Whats up with the British Military? A nuclear sub ran aground during a test deployment.
I think it was the contractor that screwed up.
Someone forgot to tighten the locknuts.................or even install them.............
Well, if it hadn’t been for all that Globull Warming there would have been more water there................yeah, that’s the ticket!............
wow,
and their cutting down to a 19 ship navy too.
wow
Inverted bomb runs are not a good practice. Very hard on the equipment and crew.
The pilots were contractors, not serving RAF
Lucas Refit Depot
BAE-Systems
King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK.
Lucas Refit Depot
As a Norton and former BSA owner I know all too well.
Fighter jets have rearview mirrors? Interesting, didn't know that. (But do they also have bling "spinner" wheels?)
Sorry for the dead co-pilot and his family. What an unnecessary tragedy.
Just wow. I mean, a seat not installed correctly and falls out???? A seat???
A person can manually separate from the seat - if they’re conscious, that is.
The seats are pulled every so often for maintenance and inspection. The guy who did the egress final inspection (after seat and canopy re-installation) is the one who will get burned in this.
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