FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1983
1983 - 1110.PDF
DEFENCE Sea Harrier force-lands on cargo ship TENERIFE A Royal Navy Sea Harrier pilot force-landed his aircraft on a cargo ship after getting lostoverthe Atlantic. Sub Lt Ian Watson of 801 Sqn was on a solo patrol when his aircraft suffered a comms and navaids failure. Watson, who has only two weeks operational flying to his credit, was unable to find HMS Illustrious, and fuel was getting perilously low. With only 6min of fuel left, Watson saw a radar contact at 70 n.m. Closing on the radar target, Watson discovered that it was the Spanish 2,300-ton general cargo ship Alraigo, with containers as deck cargo. Watson decided to land on top of eight 20ft x 8ft containers stacked two deep in the well deck between the bridge and the midships cargo derricks. Alraigo's captain, Aitor Suso, was understandably surprised when the Sea Harrier made a low, slow pass. Watson signalled by hand that he intended to land on, coming into the hover with about one minute's fuel remaining. Suso ordered the ship's engines stopped and the ten crewmen manned fire hoses. Shutting down the engines was a mistake, as this caused the Alraigo to wallow even more in the lift swells and 20kt winds. Watson was now commit ted and put the aircraft down in the small area available. But the tops of the containers were wet and the Sea Harrier slid backwards until the main wheels went over the edge. At this point Watson retracted the gear, leaving the aircraft nose-up but with minimal damage. The ship's crew helped Watson lash the aircraft down. The Sea Harrier was lifted off at Tenerife, after Royal Navy technicians had rendered its armament and systems safe. The Spanish Central Maritime Court has agreed that the aircraft cannot be held, and must be returned to Britain. The Navy has chartered the BP tanker British Tay for the task. The UK Ministry of Defence will pay "any reason able compensation claim", but is unlikely to pay the full salvage value of the Sea Harrier, about £7 • 5 million. Sub Lt Watson's Sea Harrier on board Alraigo. The aircraft landed on the eight double-stacked 8ftx20ft containers aft of the cargo derrick and then rolled back over the aft edge of the stack, ending up sitting on its ventral fin and belly with the nose in the air. Close examination reveals the outriggers in the up position, showing that Watson retracted the gear as the aircraft skidded backwards over the edge of the containers Leader blamed for Blue Impulse crash TOKYO The leader of the Japan Air Self-Defence Force aerobatic team, "Blue Impulse", has been blamed for a fatal crash last November. The JASDF Board of Inquiry says that the team leader's call to break for a downwards "bomb-burst" was "two or three seconds late". One of the six Mitsubishi T-2s flew into the ground just outside Hamamatsu airbase. The pilot, Capt Kiyoshi Takashima, was killed and 13 people on the ground were injured. The Board says that the team leader realised his mistake and ordered Taka shima to "pull", but this instruction "showed no indi cation of urgency". Taka shima apparently took no effective measures to save himself, concludes the Board. USAF leases Gulfstream Ills ANDREWS AFB The United States Air Force will lease three Grumman American Gulfstream Ills as replacements for its ageing fleet of VIP Lockheed C-140B Jetstars. The "special air mission transport" (C-SAM) fleet, based at Andrews AFB just outside Washington, is used to ferry Congressmen and high-ranking government and military officials. The leasing contract will cost $3 • 2 million in fiscal year 1983. It contains an option to buy the Gulfstream Ills in 1985, plus options on a further eight aircraft through 1988. Lockheed and Fokker had teamed to offer the F.28 for C-SAM. Pentagon studies ramjet technology WASHINGTON D.C. ~ Ramjets will power a new US generation of artillery projectiles and shipboard mis siles. The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is conducting ramjet R&D under the new Advanced Indirect Fire System (AIFS) programme. One major effort is the "Ramrod" concept in which a solid-fuel, ramjet-powered, Mach 5 rod penetrator is under development for the 105mm tank gun. Ramrod will also be compatible with 120mm guns. Other projects, aimed at making the 8in howitzer more accuiate, are a variable thrust (thrust/drag) ramjet and a metal/boron solid-fuel integral ramjet, under development to power shipborne surface-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. The projects will come to fruition next year with demonstrations of the 8in projectile, limited test firing of Ramrod, and component checkout and, possibly, limited test firings of the boron-fuelled ramjet. 1836 FLIGHT International, 18 June 1983
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
