Hawker Hunter down

[roofman]

Ask any pilot... flying fast jets at low altitude is risky....

Any pilot will also tell you its safer to be at 10,000ft than 100ft in the event of anything failing

 

[mike os]

Any pilot will also tell you its safer to be at 10,000ft than 100ft in the event of anything failing

i kind of intimated that

 

[roofman]

i kind of intimated that

was being funny Mike to your post,just always rememberd being told that by some PPL holder

 

[brightspark]

safer been at over 1000 foot only if u can get out and your parachute opens .below 500ft there not a lot of help .they have parachutes in fixed wing gliders the instructor said to me strap in but its only to pack the seat out and u wont get to use it cheers for the info i said

 

[mike os]

we used to meat bomb below 400ft... so i am surprised modern 'shutes are not more effective

 

[atomant48]

Any pilot will also tell you its safer to be at 10,000ft than 100ft in the event of anything failing

Depends what fails and where you are when it fails!

 

[KemppiFrog]

we used to meat bomb below 400ft... so i am surprised modern 'shutes are not more effective

The seat in the Hunter was not very modern, by the time he realised it was too late, it was too low. Plus, he was probably trying to avoid hitting something solid (or cars)
One often hears the press talking about heroic avoidence of schools/hospitals/creches. Simple truth is that the last thing one wants to land on is a building, far better the field or trees nearby.

 

[atomant48]

we used to meat bomb below 400ft... so i am surprised modern 'shutes are not more effective

Big difference between what you're talking about and having to unstrap, climb out, and ultimately jump clear of a [insert type of aircraft as appropriate!]

 

[KemppiFrog]

Big difference between what you're talking about and having to unstrap, climb out, and ultimately jump clear of a [insert type of aircraft as appropriate!]

Quite, I used to often fly in biplanes and do aerobatics, chances of getting out below 500ft were V slim, but we wore chutes because the seats were designed to accept them ( Stampe SV4 and Tiger Moths + a few others.) and something might go wrong at altitude. Can't remember anybody using a chute in those circumstances.
KF

 

[Wallace]

I would hope he stayed in there trying to reach open ground instead of ejecting. Unsure how accurate this Telegraph drawing is of the final flightpath but the wreckage stopped on the airfield.

 

[normspanners]

The thing is though, they still low level train down welsh valleys at massive speeds I was driving a skip truck and trailer once and was on the side of a valley I had the window down and thought at first there was something wrong with the truck then the noise got louder and louder I started to brake and this jet went past slightly below me and only what seem a few metres away i could see the lights in the cockpit etc and felt the shock wave as it past I nearly s**t myself. Now that cant be without risk there where houses down that valley.

 

[normspanners]

I would hope he stayed in there trying to reach open ground instead of ejecting. Unsure how accurate this Telegraph drawing is of the final flightpath but the wreckage stopped on the airfield.

from that drawing it looked like he had tried to throw it into the tree line.

 

[Wallace]

from that drawing it looked like he had tried to throw it into the tree line.

This image shows where the runway end is.

 

[KemppiFrog]

from that drawing it looked like he had tried to throw it into the tree line.

Probable, but he had very little control at that stage, any attempt to roll away from the road would have increased his already high sink rate as he was effectively stalled.
It looked like he was trying to stay up until he had passed the road, as he increased his angle of attack at the last moment

 

[Wendelspanswick]

The seat in the Hunter was not very modern, by the time he realised it was too late, it was too low. Plus, he was probably trying to avoid hitting something solid (or cars)
One often hears the press talking about heroic avoidence of schools/hospitals/creches. Simple truth is that the last thing one wants to land on is a building, far better the field or trees nearby.

That's reminds me of Harrison Ford being called a 'hero' after crash landing on a golf course instead of a suburban housing estate.
"Hmmm! Wide open flat green space or built up area with overhead cables, cars and hard, hard buildings?"
That's not heroism, thats self preservation!

 

[Wallace]

AAIB preliminary report on the incident here.

 

[Wedg1e]

Ejector seats are designed to work even if the plane is on the ground; it will throw the pilot high enough that the parachute canopy can deploy. Didn't help a guy (Red Arrows pilot I think) a few years ago when he apparently accidentally ejected while taxiing. He went up and came back down without the 'chute opening; inspection showed that a D-ring or similar component that should have been free to swivel had been over-tightened so it couldn't. Blamed on lack of knowledge by service personnel, but the cause of the eject was thought to be due to the pilots having got into the habit of not fastening their harnesses until just before take-off, so the theory was that as he tugged at the straps he pulled the eject lever.

 

[mike os]

Nothing much in the report so far...

 

[zx9]

Nothing much in the report so far...

No not much to report but the backround it was interesting reading. Thanks for the link Wallace.

 

[Screech]

Nothing much in the report so far...

Apart from the wrong time!