Red Arrow crash.
 

A Red Arrow Hawk has crashed at RAF Valley killing an engineer.Information so far says the pilot ejected and is in hospital.Strange that the engineer didn't also eject,I'm sure he would be fully trained in the procedure.

Shoreham springs to mind from what I've read. :(

:smilie_re: However witness reports do not appear to be consistent and therefore maybe not reliable so my thoughts might be unfounded. One report of two ejections but others say one and wreckage would appear to show that only one seat fired. Another reports canopy coming off in ejection sequence but I would doubt if that happened ... it certainly shouldn't have. :confused:

Speculation
 

Not much point in speculating about the cause but I think it highly unlikely that there are any similarities to Shoreham at all.

The cause will become clear only after the accident investigation lot have done their job

It is very sad that a young engineer has lost his life in this. Thoughts with his/her parents/family

Chris

The canopy wasn't ejected Steve but yes there was an uncommanded ejection and the proverbial subsequently hit the fan. An appalling incident which should never have happened but I believe measures were undertaken to mitigate against a repeat.

I agree with the last couple of sentences Chris and my heart too goes out to those affected. Personally I would be more concerned if people did not show an interest in tragic events, it could just as easily imply a lack of empathy and feeling. No names have been mentioned and that to me is in keeping with the period of grace requested by the family of the deceased.

:smilie_re: I read a report of a loop being performed and a subsequent low ejection, but as I mentioned previously reports so far might not be reliable.

I know a bloke in the RAF ground crew, the engineer who lost his life was one of his friends. From what he's heard, it was a bird strike. Unknown as to why the engineer didn't eject, apparently it can be set so each crew member has to select to eject themselves, or they both eject at the press of a button, but with a delay between the 2 so that they don't hit each other.

A serving member of the armed forces should not be passing on any sort of information regarding any operational or non operational issues .Let alone the reasons for the incident which has resulted in a fatality .

A tragic event whatever the cause, I’m glad the media are respecting the wishes of the family.

Stoicism is a good medicine for tragedy so nice to read that the Reds will be displaying with nine jets and not reverting to seven for the up-and-coming season. Mike Ling back as Red 3 as a replacement for David Stark who is still to recover from the incident at RAF Valley which sadly claimed the life of Jonathan Bayliss.

Just read the SI and it is apparent that a practice engine failure after take off went wrong ... aircraft stalled during final turn back on to departing runway. :(

Very sad. The Hawks are old planes now, we think our Rovers are old at 20 but these are often half that age again. Makes you wonder if the exercise would have ended like this in a more modern aircraft.
Awful for the engineer (and his family). Pilots are well versed in cockpit drill and would have been very quick to react and eject. The engineer would have been just a passenger and probably didn't recognise that things had got critical till the final seconds when he would have had very little chance of escaping.
I also feel for the pilot. Practising a low level engine failure is obviously a very dangerous pastime. For most of us, if things go wrong at work the consequences aren't usually this tragic. As a Red Arrows pilot he would have been at the peak of his career. I hope the RAF gave him plenty of support.

If anyone wants to read the report its here: https://assets.publishing.service.go...cted-Final.pdf