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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 2902.PDF
Red Arrows' minimum display height raised after crash THE Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, will not be allowed to display below 100ft a.g.l. after a crash at the British south-coast resort of Brighton last year. On the after noon of May 17 the Red Arrows were tasked with a public display along the seafront at Brighton. The weather was good and the full display was flown. This starts with close-formation aero batics with all nine British Aerospace Hawks. Later in the routine two air craft, the Synchro Pair, break away from the main formation to perform opposing passes at very low level, making alternate runs with the main formation. The display line chosen was over the sea, parallel to the coastline and between two piers. The show pro ceeded normally until the fourth op position pass by the Synchro Pair when the Number Two struck the mast of a yacht which, unnoticed, had motored slowly onto the previously clear display line. The yacht was not under sail and the pilot of Hawk XX2G2 did not see the yacht's thin, slow-moving, light-grey mast against the background of sea and vertical pier structure. The Hawk's wing hit the 44ft mast about 4in below its peak, damaging the aircraft's flying controls. The Hawk climbed slightly and rolled uncontrollably to the right. Three seconds after the collision, with the aircraft almost inverted, the pilot ejected at no more than 300ft. Al though at the edge of the seat's en velope the abandonment was success ful. The pilot suffered only slight in jury and was picked up by a passing motor boat. The aircraft crashed into the sea beyond the pier. There were no other injuries. The authorised minimum height for the Synchro Pair at the time of the accident was 35ft. The display area between the piers was clear during the first part of the Synchro Pair dis play but the yacht moved across the display line at the crucial moment. There was no embargo on boat move ments during the display and, says the RAF, no reason for the skipper of the yacht to suspect that his passage would hazard the two low-flying Hawks of the Synchro Pair. The yacht's movement was not anticipated or noticed in time to warn the pilots. No blame was attached to the pilot. Besides raising the minimum display height to 100ft, the rules and pro cedures for the team were reviewed and the need for foresight and vigi lance, both in planning and on-the- spot control, were re-emphasised to avoid unexpected hazards. Hunter crash-flaps down, pitch down A tactical weapons student was unable to recover his Hunter from a dive because the flaps were in the wrong position, leading to a progressive in crease in dive angle. On May 28, 1980, the pilot of the Hunter FGA 9 (XG261) was engaged in a one v one air combat manoeuvring sortie with a similar type. Towards the end of the first engagement the Hunters pulled up into a wing over, both aircraft reaching their apogee at about 25,000ft. As he started to descend, the student saw that his speed was low and selected full power to accelerate in a dive towards his adversary. With a dive-angle of about 30°, the student rolled towards the other Hunter and pulled back on the stick. The aircraft failed to respond so he rolled wings-level and attempted to recover. The dive became progres sively steeper and the pilot tried un successfully to locate the tailplane interconnect switch to increase pitch authority. He then noticed the alti meter unwinding rapidly through 11,000ft and, abandoning further efforts to regain control, he ejected, suffering a broken arm and facial injuries, commensurate with a high speed ejection. The Hunter crashed into open moorland. Examination of the wreckage showed that the flaps were 23° down at impact. It is normal to select flap down during ACM to improve the Hunter's low-speed handling charac teristics. However, if the flaps are not selected "up" before MO.9/300kt is reached, the aircraft will pitch pro gressively nose-down. The Hunter can not be recovered from this situation until the flaps are selected up. The first Casa C-212 200 Series Aviocar has been delivered to the Uruguayan Air Force Casualties... • A Jaguar GR.l of 31 Sqn, RAF Bruggen, crashed 1 n.m. south-west of Barnard Castle, County Durham, on August 6. The pilot was killed. • A Luftwaffe F-104G Starfighter of JBG 33, based at Biichel, crashed at Lorraine in France on August 17 after an engine failure. The pilot steered clear of the town before ejecting safely. • A Luftwaffe F-4 Phantom crashed into the sea off Sardinia on August 21. Both crew ejected; the back seater was injured, but the pilot was killed after his parachute failed to open. • A Royal Australian Air Force Bell UH-1 Iroquois crashed near RAAF Williamtown on August 22; the three crewmen were killed. An eyewitness said that after a prolonged hover, the UH-1 emitted puffs of white smoke; there was then a loud bang and the rotor came off. The RAAF has grounded its UH-ls pending an in vestigation into the crash. • A Royal Air Force Harrier GR.3 of 3 Sqn, Gutersloh, crashed 24 n.m. west of Alhorn, West Germany, on August 25. The pilot ejected safely. Stingers score direct hit Five Stinger shoulder-launched sur face-to-air missiles, picked at random from the General Dynamics produc tion line, scored direct hits on three- high-speed drones and two targets simulating hovering helicopters. The US Army had planned to test 10 rounds, but decided against testing the last five following the success of the first rounds. Tests such as this will take place every two months as the Army checks each Stinger produc tion batch before handing over the money. New UK defence sales chief LUCAS Aerospace general manager James Blyth is to be the next Head of Defence Sales at the UK Ministry of Defence. He succeeds Sir Ronald Ellis of British Leyland. Secondments to the post from Industry are usually for five years. James Blyth is 41 and graduated from Glasgow University with an MA Honours degree in History. He started his career with Mobil Oil, progressing to Lucas Batteries and has held his present position since 1977; he is a council member of the Society of British Aerospace Companies. 708 FLIGHT International, 5 September (98*
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