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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 1934.PDF
135a British military accidents OVER THE SIX-MONTH PERIOD ending on June 30, 1972, Press reports and other non-Service sources record accidents involving 25 British military aircraft, compared with a total of 43 for the previous year. These figures suggest a financial loss approaching £1 million a week, not to mention the cost in terms of human life. While these reports often rely on non-expert civilian eyewitnesses and are therefore subject to inaccuracy, they have pro vided the background for lengthy dis cussion in the national Press and Parliament, as recorded in our West minster feature. Simple tables of reported military accidents can be misleading, as only a proportion of Service accidents or serious incidents ever reach the Press, and the resulting annual totals cannot be related to hours flown which, like accidents and accident reports, are not divulged by the British Services. This is not the case in the United States, Sweden or West Germany, where official safety statistics (includ ing loss rates per flying hour) are made available. Five important issues arise, each involving a mixture of politics, mili- F-I04G and G-91 accident rates per 100,000 flying hours. The F-I04G record is shown as a solid black line. This graph is published in the West German Defence White Paper 1971-72 150 j I 1001 50 \ V' tary security and often human tragedy. First, should accurate statistics be made available to taxpayer, Press and Parliament? Secondly, do these statis tics or, in their absence, incomplete Press reports suggest an unacceptable safety record for the Service as a whole, or for any particular type of aircraft? Thirdly, what do the acci dents reveal about Service pilot training and, perhaps increasingly as important, maintenance standards? Fourthly, what is the effect of these aircraft losses on the RAF's single big gest problem, namely shortage of air craft, and on the defence budget? Finally, how do the Services, operating in peacetime, ensure the lowest pos sible loss of aircrew and aircraft? With these serious issues in mind Flight publishes below a letter from Lord Lambton, Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Air Force, in reply to a question from Mr Michael McNair-Wilson, Conservative MP for Walthamstow East, together with a table of British military aircraft accidents compiled by Flight from Press reports. In this table no attempt has been made to differentiate between accidents result ing in total loss and those after which the aircraft was subsequently repaired. An idea of how incomplete Press re ports are was revealed on January 20, 1972, when Mr David Clark (Lab, Colne Valley) asked Mr Kirk, Joint Under-Secretary of State for Defence, for the numbers of RAF and RN per sonnel killed in flying accidents over the last five years. Mr Kirk gave these as (RAF) 1967, 55; 1968, 34; 1969, 20; 1970, 21; and 1971, 24. (RN) 1966, 16; 1967,10; 1968, 11; 1969, 5; 1970, 8; and 1971, 2. Mr Kirk also detailed the number of RAF (excl. RN and Army) aircraft destroyed: 1967, 47; 1968, 42; 1969, 25; 1970, 29; and 1971, 38. An example of the statistics pro vided by the West German Govern ment comes from its annual Defence White Paper. It shows one way in which military accident rates can be presented. US figures are taken from the Armed Forces Journal, May 1972. The British Ministry of Defence tells Flight that there has been no change in the official policy covering the re lease of accident statistics, and that "the Air Force Department would not wish to comment on the material which Flight staff have compiled." A.H./C.G. The following is the text of the reply by Lord Lambton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Air Force, to a letter from Mr Michael McNair-Wilson, Conservative MP for Walthamstow East: — I have been considering very care fully your letter to me of April 24 about RAF flying accidents. I am, myself, strongly in favour of providing as much information as we can about any Defence matters which are of public interest or concern. I must, however, always ask myself two related questions. First: what risks may be entailed by publishing particular kinds of information? Secondly: what public good would be served by dis closing the information which might justify our taking these risks? In the matter of flying accident statis tics our present practice is the outcome of very many years of deliberation, both within the Ministry of Defence and in public, and I have myself reviewed it again recently. I am forced to much the same conclusions as my predecessors (and they include Stanley Baldwin, who had some sensible things to say on this subject as far back as 1927—Col 1438 of Hansard of March 10 of that year is still worth reading!). I am afraid I cannot accept your view that it is necessary either for Service morale or to provide a spur to the Directorate of Flight Safety that we should publish more information than at present. Service morale rests on the assurance that the most searching in vestigation is made of every accident; that the Directorate of Flight Safety spends its existence in drawing the necessary conclusions and disseminating information widely to those who need to act on it; and that flight safety is regularly and frequently considered personally at the most senior levels in the Air Force Department. I doubt that it would add to Service morale if we attempted to conduct this continuous and highly technical review in public or—since security severely restricts what could in fact be published—we encouraged Press speculation on the basis of incomplete information: indeed, I believe the reverse would be the case. continued on page 138 The accident record of a selection of USAF aircraft up to May 1972 F-100 F-101 F-102 F-104 F-105 F-106 F-4B A-7 F-111 1961 63 65 67 69 71 Year Accidents Destroyed Fatal First flight Accidents at 150,000hr 118 59 11 May 1953 3-57 67 34 12 Sept 1954 3-60 65 31 9 Oct 1953 9-58 98 71 27 Feb 1953 11-62 60 45 12 Oct 1955 6 63 40 19 7 Dec 1956 12-62 71 34 17 May 1958 4-64 51 49 8 Sept 1965 2 69 24 18 9 - Dec 1964 2-72
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