WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Friend of the wifes son flies in the RAF and is hoping to join the red arrows next year. From what he said it appears to have been bird strike, only needs the one bird to f*ck things up.

When the lad the wife knows was training he had a bird hit the screen of the harrier he was flying, luckily there was an instructor in the back seat because the bird took the front canopy clean off and hit the lad in the face and knocked his intercom off his helmet!

Leslie

I think what you say is very likely.

I knew a bloke who had exactly the same kind of birdstrike in a Hawk at low level. He was flying with a navigator in the back seat which was to give the back seater some experience of what it might be like sittng in the back of a Tornado before he started the training.

The bird smashed the windscreen and virtually knocked the pilot out. The only thing that saved them was when the navigator took control of the aircraft and managed to stop it crashing. The pilot recovered and was able to land the Hawk safely.

The manner in which Egging's aircraft left the formation and lost height so quickly indicates to me that he might have been incapacitated at the time and did not recover consciousness in time to avoid disaster.

Les

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Didn't they say that he flew the plane away from a built up area to avoid the possibility of civillians on the ground being affected ?

I'm no expert at flying and this would be just guessing, if you were knocked out whilst flying at fairly low level, would a pilot have enough time to regain consciousness at such a low level ? He would need time to come back round then regain his bearings and all of that wouldn't happen in a few seconds, from when the plain looked to be initially in distress and the timeframe to hitting the ground must have been less than a minute.

I can't see how he would have been knocked out if he guided the plane away from houses, the timeframe seems to be too quick from the plane starting to lose altitude to crashing. I got knocked out playing rugby once, apparently it took me around 20 seconds to come back round and quite a while after to regain my bearings and know where i was, i had to ask someone what position i was playing and what number i had on my back, i didn't have a clue who we were playing or where we were playing.

TinyTim

iTrader: (3)

Yes, the flightpath the 4 planes take proir to landing comes directly over our place.

Unconsciousness is not a possibility as he radio'd in a mayday call prior to putting it down.

jef

iTrader: (13)

dont know much about this, but at CAA controlled aerodromes, bird strikes are taken very seriously

great effort goes into clearing the airfeild of birds - and maintaining it bird free, they use guns, play tapes of distressed birds, and birds of prey calls, along with loud flares/bangers.

airfeild are large open areas, usually with lots of grass, and not many predators due to human activity, so there ideal for many birds.

fortunatley these measure seem quite effective.

thoughts go out to this guys family

jonnyrex

Looks like there displaying at Chatsworth tomorrow ?..Times are for Zulu so add +1hr for BST


H4405/11

Hide Notam
Start : 2011-09-02T14:55:00
End : 2011-09-02T16:00:00
Lower : 0
Upper : 30
Location : Nottinghamshire(53.233,-1.167) - Radius 23nm

Code : QWVLW
Traffic : IV

E) FORMATION TRANSIT BY RED ARROWS ACFT ROUTING:
5318N 00033W (SCAMPTON) 1504 HR
5322N 00043W (UPTON)1506 HR
5317N 00049W (TRESWELL)1507 HR
5311N 00045W (BELTHORPE)1508 HR
5306N 00107W (BLIDWORTH)1511 HR
5316N 00113W (CRESWELL)1513 HR
5314N 00137W (CHATSWORTH)1515 HR
5313N 00147W (FLAGG)1540 HR
5309N 00059W (EAKRING)1544 HR
5318N 00033W (SCAMPTON) 1548 HR
FORMATION PLANS TO TRANSIT AT 2000FT AGL. TIMINGS, HGT AND ROUTE ARE
APRX AND MAY CHANGE DUE TO WX OR OTHER REQUIREMENTS. 11-09-0348/ AS
1

Taken from NOTAM (notice to air men ) below if anybody's interested and a Aircraft nurd like me

http://metutil.appspot.com/static/ma...PX_2DAY_WR.htm

Daz34

AFAIK the only mayday call was by the Red Leader after Red 4 crashed.

Leslie

Naturally it depends on how hard the bird hit him how long it would take for him to come round again, it could be quite quick with a glancing blow or not at all if it was full in the face.

We do not know for certain whether he personally avoided the houses or whether that was just due to the flight path the aircraft happened to be following. It also depends on how high they were when it happened. They were about to line up for a rejoin into the landing circuit as far as we know and he was at the bottom of the formation in a right hand turn. He was not all that high. He left the formation rapidly and lost height very rapidly too. Normally in such a position with loss of the engine you would maintain altitude if the engine had failed and allowed the speed to decrease to the best gliding speed. This would give you the best chance of selecting a spot to land with an engine failure and also give you the best possible gliding range. The indication as he left the formation was that he did not have control of the aircraft for one reason or another. We still do not know if the engine was still running even. If he was really unlucky he may have hit a flock of seagulls which caused the loss of the engine and also hit him in the face. That would be the full nightmare.

I can only give you a guess what actually happened without any further information, but based on my own experience of flying the Hawk and also having practised many simulated forced landings with engine failure. I also know very well the sort of damage a birdstrike can cause having had experience of that too.

Once again, we shall only know what the court of enquiry choose to tell us when they have finished. At least we know it cannot have been a basic fault of the aircraft itself.

The fact that he did not eject in time is also significant. If there was no other choice, the action would have been to level the aircraft in a safe direction and pull the ejection seat handle. Once again it points to the pilot's incapacity at the time.

Les

TinyTim

iTrader: (3)

Two reports at the time stated Red 1 radio'd through to Hurn control to confirm they'd recieved the may day from Red 4.

And yes, the flightpath is over this street, so for whatever reason he deviated from the course.