FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1987
1987 - 1474.PDF
DEFENCE Jaguar pilot was pre-occupied LONDON A Royal Air Force Sepecat Jaguar crashed on a low-level sortie when the pilot became pre-occupied and allowed the aircraft to get into an irre coverable position. The Jaguar, based at RAF Bruggen, in West Germany, was launched as Number Three of a three-ship forma tion on April 1, 1985. Follow ing an initial high-level tran sit, the formation prepared for a descent through cloud under radar control to continue with the low-level portion of the sortie. Lead and Two descended as a pair, broke cloud at 3,000ft in the operating area, and then entered a holding pattern between 500ft and 1,000ft to wait for Three. Meanwhile Three broke cloud and received radar vectors to join up with the pair. Shortly afterwards Three received a call from Lead indicating visual contact and instructing him to turn left to rejoin. Some moments later Three saw the pair and manoeuvred to rejoin in extended trail formation. At that point Lead called for a frequency change. The next frequency was not a pre-selected stud, and there fore required all five digits to be dialled up manually. Three looked into the cock pit and began dialling the frequency, but he mis-dialled the last digit and had to reselect. When he looked up, he saw that his aircraft was in a steep descending turn and extremely close to the ground. Although he rolled wings level and pulled, he realised simultaneously that the air craft would strike the ground so he initiated ejection. The seat left the aircraft just before, or at, the moment of impact. The pilot survived having sustained compression fractures of two vertebrae and an ankle injury. The Jaguar continued to slide through a sparsely wooded area before disintegrating and catching fire. The investigation found that the accident was the result of the pilot becoming pre-occupied with changing the radio frequency and allow ing his aircraft to assume an overbanked, nose-low attitude at low level from which he was unable to recover (see table below). The pilot was discip lined. Disorientation suspected in Tornado crash LONDON The suspected cause of a fatal accident to a Royal Air Force Panavia Tornado GR.l in 1985 is pilot induced oscil lation or disorientation. The Marham-based Torn ado was the second of three aircraft that were to rendez vous at 30min intervals with a Buccaneer fitted as a buddy tanker for night air-to-air refuelling practice on Decem ber 12, 1985. In the refuelling area, over the North Sea off Flamborough Head, there was a cloud layer at 4,000ft with good visibility below. The Tornado crew flew to the rendezvous area but could not make radio contact with their tanker. They were advised by another Buccaneer crew to make a further attempt on the area radar frequency but this was also unsuccessful. The second Buccaneer crew then advised the Tornado crew to try an alternative contact frequency and the Tornado crew's acknowledgement was the last call heard from them. Meanwhile the Buccaneer tanker, having completed its task with the first Tornado, flew on a southerly heading to the rendezvous at 2,500ft. The ground radar trace showed that initially the Buccaneer was trailing its Tornado Height (ft) 100 300 500 Time to impact (sec) Wrngs-ievel descent -1* 240kt 14 42 70 480kt 7 21 35 Overtianked turn 85*/4g SO'/Any g 95*/5g 3-0 2-5 2-1 52 4-3 36 6-8 56 4-5 receiver by about 5 n.m., and the Buccaneer crew saw aircraft lights in their 11 o'clock position. Both aircraft then started a port turn together. After pass ing through about 90°, the Tornado seemed to tighten its turn, and rolled out on a northerly heading passing behind the Buccaneer tanker at about 1 n.m. The tanker crew then caught a glimpse of aircraft lights in their 9.30 o'clock position but did not see them again. A radar trace confirmed that the Tornado appeared to start a climbing turn to the right, but the trace then disappeared. Substantial amounts of the Tornado's wreckage were recovered from the sea. The wreckage showed that the crew probably did not eject. It was not possible to posi tively determine the cause of the accident, but the most likely possibility was a loss of control following either a pilot-induced oscillation, or disorientation. Less likely was a technical defect either as the cause or as a contributory factor to the loss of control. Lightning ejection— reheat fire LONDON Two Royal Air Force British Aerospace Lightning F.6s were conducting practice intercepts under radar control over the North Sea on July 15, 1986. After taking on fuel from a Victor tanker the Lightnings were directed to intercept a pair of targets. During the ensuing engage ment one of the Lightning pilots was alerted by the audio attention getters, and a fire- warning light illuminated. The pilot carried out the appropriate emergency drills, and headed the aircraft out to sea and climbed to 10,000ft. An inspection by the other Lightning pilot confirmed a fire in the rear fuselage of the mishap aircraft, 760. Shortly afterwards 760's pilot experienced unde- manded control movements which culminated in the stick seizing in the central position. Realising that he had lost control of the aircraft, the pilot closed the throttles and ejected. The aircraft crashed into the sea 7 n.m. north of Whitby. The pilot parachuted safely into the sea and was rescued a short time later by helicopter. Despite extensive salvage operations only a small pro portion of the aircraft wreck age was recovered. From the evidence available, it was considered that fuel had probably leaked into the hot jet-pipe zones and ignited, starting a fire. [A reheat-zone fire in the Lightning almost invariably leads to loss of control as the control runs burn through.] The cause of the fuel leak was not deter mined. CASUALTIES • Two Japan Ground Self- Defence Force Hughes/ Kawasaki OH-6Ds crashed after a mid-air collision over Aomori Prefecture on July 10. One of the OH-6s had engine trouble, and called the second OH-6 to formate and make a visual check of the exhaust area. The aircraft then collided. All three on the checking helicopter were killed. A crewman on the lead OH-6 was also killed, but the two pilots survived with minor injuries. • A United States Army Bell UH-1H Iroquois crashed in a tropical rainstorm near San Salvador, El Salvador, on July 16. Six people on board were killed, one survived. • An Hellenic Air Force heli copter, believed to be an Agusta AB.205A, crashed into the sea off the island of Samos on July 26 while on a flight around the islands to trans port sick people to hospital on the Greek mainland. The three crew, a doctor, and five patients were killed. • A Royal Air Force Panavia Tornado of 3lSqn from RAF Bruggen, West Germany, crashed at Sadmoor in north ern England on July 27. The crew ejected, the navigator sustaining a broken arm. • A Syrian Air Force MiG-21 Fishbed was shot down by Iraqi ground forces when it strayed into Iraq on July 28. The aircraft was from Dir Azur AB and was downed by groundfire near an industrial area at Al Quaim. The pilot ejected safely and is to be returned to Syria, says Iraq. 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 15 August 1987
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
