Duxford visit 08/04/2018

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Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#1 Post by Cacophonix » Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:51 pm

Re: The really boring and totally pointless snippets thread III
by Cacophonix » Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:30 pm


Utterly appalling weather here today so no recreational aviation but my better half and I drove to Duxford where a series of serendipitous meetings and discoveries made for rather a special day.

It is often worth taking somebody with a totally different approach and set of interests to such places and so it proved today. While I was discussing the exigencies of the Comet's range and take off performance in hot and high conditions in Africa with one of the dedicated and very knowledgeable volunteers who man some of the exhibits, my better half proceeded to focus on the Elizabeth Arden freebies that had been given to the lady passengers on the BOAC flights in the early days of the Comet's history and she then proceeded to point out to me that Britain’s first female jet airline captain was actually born in Pretoria (my home town) as Yvonne van den Hoek. I was delighted to discover this and T, my better half, was delighted to point out that Ms Pope Sintes (who I had mentioned on the Dan Air thread here without realising her provenance) had been an instructor at our local airfield as well, instructing mere men like me, before she struck a historic blow for woman's rights and equality.

http://www.griffinity.co.uk/set-your-si ... ine-pilot/

Not content with this T then demanded to know where the toilets had been on the Comet and why they had not been left extant so that she could inspect them. This delighted the very English Comet gentleman volunteer and expert who proceeded to have a long chat with us and it turned out he had worked for Anglo American in Zambia and knew a whole bunch of people my father had known. He suggested that we look at the Hermes exhibit as an example of the first pressurised passenger airliner.

When we got to the Hermes the doors were being shut as the volunteer there was obviously keen to escape the awful weather outside and to get an early departure but he did not factor in the formidable T who parlayed an entry into the exhibit and another straggler took the opportunity to join us as the Duxford volunteer and ex C130 aircraft engineer graciously took time out to tell us more about the Hermes and also about his previous job with the Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group. Then it turned out that the straggler was a South African who had gone to my school in Pietermaritzburg in Natal and was there with an old school mate, a Zambian chap who now acts and does voice overs (including the voice for Chris Froome's audio book autobiography) so we then had to go and have tea together having bumped into an ex RAF avionics engineer who had worked on Lightning's in Singapore en route so a rather eclectic tea and scones was enjoyed by all...

http://74sqdn.tk/photographic-archive/lightnings/
Elizabeth Arden freebies and the Comet.JPG
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#2 Post by Cacophonix » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:04 pm

T approves of the Avro Tudor.JPG
T approves of the Avro Tudor.JPG (53.21 KiB) Viewed 965 times
BAC Electric Lightning.JPG
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#3 Post by Cacophonix » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:08 pm

CharlieOneSix's old steed.JPG
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TSR2.JPG
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#4 Post by fin » Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:30 am

Ironically (for a Yank anyhow) Duxford was where I first saw an SR-71.
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#5 Post by Cacophonix » Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:39 am

fin wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:30 am
Ironically (for a Yank anyhow) Duxford was where I first saw an SR-71.

Duxford have refurbished the US exhibition hall in the last year or so fin. The SR-71 and the B-52 still hold centre court mind. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures up there this time as my phone battery had gone flat.

I attended a very interesting talk given by ex USAF Colonel Rich Graham at Duxord some years back. His experiences and his trenchant comments about the "canning of the asset" as he saw it were most interesting. I have a signed copy of his book SR-71 Revealed - The Untold Story.

Not the talk I attended but interesting nonetheless...



and this is even better...



I was apt to remark on Clarence "Kelly" Johnson only today. Johnson who could design the washout needed in a wing by intuition and the feel of his slide rule alone it is said. The U2, SR-71 Blackbird being his abiding legacy and testimony (amongst so many other aircraft) to his engineering mastery.

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/aeron ... works.html

Saddest story I ever read was about his last tour of the Skunk Works before he died aged 80 in 1990. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's induced dementia for some time and sadly the once agile mind had been so ravaged that he couldn't recognise his own aircraft, although he was still canny enough to note that they were "pretty good", when he saw them, it was said. People who had known him cried quietly when they saw how age been so unkind to him.

I have tapped the fuselage of the SR-71 at Duxford and it was a reminder that we are the stuff of the memories and the more tangible things we leave behind. That big black aircraft was solid proof that Mr Johnson will never ever be forgotten.

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#6 Post by Sisemen » Tue Apr 10, 2018 8:22 am

One I took earlier. BTW the "Tudor" annotated is a Handley Page Hastings.
IMG_3768(2).jpg
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Hastings.jpg
Hastings.jpg (49.85 KiB) Viewed 921 times

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#7 Post by Cacophonix » Tue Apr 10, 2018 10:50 am

Cheers Siseman, you are quite correct! ^:)^

In fact my description is doubly wrong because when I showed her this post she said. "No I was pointing at the Harrier!" :))

Where's my dunce cap?

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#8 Post by Cacophonix » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:19 am

While looking up at the associated hydraulic lines, electrical cables and the magnitude of the Vulcan Bomb bay at Duxford on Sunday I was apt to wonder what had happened to XH558, the last flying Vulcan, last seen flying by me and T at Farnborough some 4 years ago...

Vulcan.JPG
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I looked at the Vulcan to the Sky site which was the bellweather of the health and fate of XH558 for a while but it was of a little help and not a little depressing, what with notices of cancellation of exhibitions at RAF museums and a general air of decay what the loss of impetus and energy that that was, and is to be, expected after the loss of the permit to fly in 2015.

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/

However the Daily Wail noted this (see link below) last year and, I may be shot for saying this, but I wonder if putting this priceless British heirloom in the hands of an underfunded (or quasi state controlled) RAF museum is such a good idea in the long run. Those people at the MOD (to mangle the old saying) seem to know the price of nothing and the value of even less and are completely bereft of sentimentality, energy and the mindset required to be the financial custodians of such a precious artefact. RAF bases are abandoned with remarkable and worrying regularity these days and the idea of such a place as being as "permanent home" seems (to me at least) delusional. I wonder what other ops-normalisers think?
The owners of the last airworthy Vulcan bomber have promised the much-loved Cold War relic will eventually return to public view after they were forced to put it into 'hibernation'.

The 57-year-old nuclear bomber - XH558 - flew for the last time in October 2015 after a summer delighting millions of people at air shows and fly-pasts around the UK.

Since then, 1,000 people a month have visited the Vulcan at its hangar at Doncaster Sheffield airport, in South Yorkshire.

The aircraft lost its permit to fly 18 months ago, but The Vulcan To The Sky Trust, which restored the aircraft to flight a decade ago, has been developing a plan for a visitor attraction around the Vulcan, including periodically opening up its powerful engines on fast taxi runs around the airport.

But an increase in cargo traffic at the airport has meant XH558's hangar is needed for other uses.

Trust chief executive Robert Pleming said the plane is 'hibernating' as a funding appeal is launched to fulfil the long-term aim of creating a purpose-built home and visitor centre at the former RAF base.

Dr Pleming said the problem is that, as public tours and events have been halted, there has been a huge drop in income.

'It's sad leaving here,' he said. 'It's sad that we've had to let quite a number of our team go. It's sad for the volunteers who've provided such amazing support for the tours.
'But we're very hopeful of a bright future ahead of us.'

Dr Pleming added: 'I'm really confident that in about a year's time we'll be able to move into that new facility.
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/947/ ... Event.html
XH558.JPG
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#9 Post by Cacophonix » Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:10 pm

The photograph of the Lightning in the first post above is not of just any old Lightning but is of XM135, infamous for its electrical problems in 1966 that required trouble shooting, and without a specialist test pilot available, resulted in Engineering Branch Officer and unit CO "Taffy" Holden (later Wing Commander) doing the electrical spot checks himself having been granted permission to throttle up the aircraft on the runway at RAF Lyneham and undertake a variety of staged electrical checks in situ, with the aircraft at low power while moving.

The rest is history, as on the third engine run up and after a 40 yard trundle down runway 05, he inadvertently selected reheat, narrowly missing a fuel a bowser and crossing the active runway on which a Comet had just landed and without enough distance to stop, took off with the wheels locked down, having never flown a fast jet, let alone the most formidably accelerating fighter in the RAF inventory at the time.

Fortunately the Foreman of the Engine Trades had given him advice on how to disengage the reheat gate keys on the throttle and armed with nothing but a basic knowledge of flying Tiger Moths, Harvards and the occasional Airspeed Oxford, he contrived to make a fist of couple of circuits and missed approaches, ejection not being an option as the seat had been safe, and finally put the beast down using a 3 point landing technique that damaged the rubber block that protected the brake parachute cables, but left the aircraft pretty much intact despite the brake parachute having fallen off, the brakes having sufficed to stop the aircraft!



Talk of accelerated learning and Lightning training in extremis.

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#10 Post by fin » Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:59 pm

Here's my ride, together with the stable owner himself...
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zu bex Mike Beachyhead.jpg
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#11 Post by Capetonian » Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:54 pm

Sadly, neither ZU-BEX nor Mike Beachy Head are with us.

ZU-BEX crashed a few years ago at the Overberg air show, killing the pilot (Dave Stock), which started a chain of events leading to the suspension of Thunder City's licences, the SACAA blaming poor maintenance procedures.

Mike died almost a year ago, of natural causes.

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#12 Post by Cacophonix » Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:56 pm

I saw ZU-BEX being displayed by Dave Stock at least twice before his, and its, unfortunate demise. Sad that Mike Beachy Head has gone west now as well.

What an extraordinary experience it must have been flying in the Lightning off the peninsular fin. Do you know what has happened to the Beachy Head Lightnings?

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#13 Post by fin » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:51 pm

No Sir, I do not. In addition to his supersonic experience, he also had Hawker Hunters (I think they were) and one other type for either acrobatic flying or nap of the earth high speed low level flying.

On the particular day I flew, the visibility was unlimited, and the views from 61,000 feet (where we arrived very shortly after the high speed pass down the runway and then straight up) of the whole lower Cape were ones never to be forgotten.

In one of the most regrettable of all of my cheapo decisions, I declined to pay for a video of the experience. Stupid stupid stupid. The G forces were such that, until we leveled off, I couldn't even get own little my camera from my lap to eye level.

I guess it is fair to call it the high point of my life to that point, literally. SO very sad to hear how it all ended.
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#14 Post by Cacophonix » Thu Apr 12, 2018 4:15 am

fin wrote:
Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:51 pm
No Sir, I do not. In addition to his supersonic experience, he also had Hawker Hunters (I think they were) and one other type for either acrobatic flying or nap of the earth high speed low level flying.

On the particular day I flew, the visibility was unlimited, and the views from 61,000 feet (where we arrived very shortly after the high speed pass down the runway and then straight up) of the whole lower Cape were ones never to be forgotten.

In one of the most regrettable of all of my cheapo decisions, I declined to pay for a video of the experience. Stupid stupid stupid. The G forces were such that, until we leveled off, I couldn't even get own little my camera from my lap to eye level.

I guess it is fair to call it the high point of my life to that point, literally. SO very sad to hear how it all ended.

A pity about the video but the real value lies in your heart, memories and the knowledge that you have entered the relatively small, select, group that have played around at 61,000 feet (particularly in the southern hemisphere).

As for the Black Lightning ZU-BBD, I remember sitting on the top of Lion's Head (with the indomitable T who had dragged me up there) looking down to hear an enormous roar below to see ZU-BBD flying low and at speed as it cut around the base of the mountain and then fly down into the city bowl. It was a marvelous and unique sight to behold, to see the aircraft from above in flight, and to hear the roar of the engines was pure aural poetry. Of course it was probably illegally low over built up areas as well as it transitioned over the city bowl. Having checked on the fate of ZU-BBD, it was, at last update, still up for sale but might have been disposed by now. I can't imagine it will ever fly again, mind you, given the history, lack of trained maintenance resources, parts as, most relevantly, the huge cost of keeping such a bird flying safely.
ZU-BBD.JPG
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Mike Beachy Head, and to an extent Ralph Garlick (he of the Garlick's shopping family fortune) in the equally black BAC Strikemaster, courted controversy by flying low over Cape Town in the early days. Beachy Head incurred the CAA's wrath by "inadvertently breaking the "sound barrier" low over the peninsular as well. The story of the Strikemaster's ferry flight to Cape Town is well worth reading.

http://www.bacstrikemaster.co.uk/strikeys/oj6ferry.html

As for the ZU-BEX accident, well, the SACAA report, told a fairly worrying story, and the fact that the bang seat didn't work was close to criminal as it gets, but let's park all that and remember the good stuff and energy and "get it done" attitude that made Thunder City a pretty well run outfit at the outset, Barry Plover's input being central to the good Lightning maintenance practices that initially pertained. None of this would have happened if Mr Beachy Head hadn't been the force of nature that he was and he is best remembered that way. RIP.

As for "nap of the earth high speed low level flying" I believe that was done in the Blackburn Buccaneer, for which there was a plethora of qualified maintenance engineers around in South Africa, given that the SAAF had flown the type for years and had used it in combat in Angola as well.



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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#15 Post by Capetonian » Thu Apr 12, 2018 6:35 am

People have said that the SACAA report on Thunder City was a series of falsehoods and exaggerations, done to get TC closed. I don't want to comment further as the little I know, from having a friend who was closely associated with the place, is not sufficient. What is clear is that they had upset the CAA once too often and I think ZU-BEX gave them the ammunition they needed. The information below is what is in the public domain.

SACAA Report : http://www.caa.co.za/Accidents%20and%20 ... s/8706.pdf

Thunder City released a statement repudiating the findings of the CAA :
Thunder City Rejects SACAA report.

Thunder City was not aware that the SACAA aircraft accident report had been issued, thus we have not had the time to study it in detail; nor were we afforded the opportunity to comment prior to its release, nor were any senior members of Thunder City staff interviewed or statements taken. Our initial findings, after a cursory read, leave us in no doubt that this report is seriously flawed and smacks of a witch hunt.

Even at a superficial level, while the report appears to be thorough, we have found blatant falsehoods, errors, illogical conclusions as well as glaring omissions. Therefore, once we have studied this report in depth, we will pursue all options open to us to ensure that a true and balanced conclusion is reached.

As it stands, is a scandalous and libellous work that at the outset seeks to apportion blame while claiming not to.

It is our intention to embark on a further independent investigation with suitably qualified experts and to present such findings when complete. In the interim Thunder City will seek a court injunction to have this report withdrawn.

Thunder City Management
Cape Town - “Ejection seat failure, ejection seat failure, tell her I love her very much.” These were the last words of a pilot to the control tower just before his plane crashed during an air show in Bredasdorp.

Nearly three years after a pilot crashed to his death at the Overberg Air Show, an official report has fingered the aircraft owners for poor maintenance and failure to maintain safety standards.

Dave Stock, 46, of Hermanus, was flying solo in an English Electric Lightning MK T5 aircraft during a display at the annual Overberg Air Show in Bredasdorp when the aircraft’s ejection seat failed on November 14, 2009. Scores of spectators saw the aircraft plunge to the ground.

The SA Civil Aviation Authority’s accident report has angered Thunder City, the company that owned the aircraft.

On Thursday, Thunder City labelled the report “seriously flawed” and “scandalous and libellous work”, and said it planned to go to court to have it withdrawn. According to the 136-page report, the day before the accident, on landing at the aerodrome, “a large flame followed by white smoke” had come from the aircraft’s engine and the plane had to be towed to its parking bay. No maintenance was carried out on it.

The next day, while on the apron, the aircraft had started leaking fuel, but had been prepared for flight nonetheless.

“Approximately halfway into the aerobatics display the pilot suddenly experienced an emergency situation… The pilot reported that he was having hydraulic failure,” the report said. The undercarriage failed. “The emergency situation escalated whereby the pilot experienced difficulty in controlling the aircraft. Shortly thereafter the pilot reported that he was going to eject.”

Stock was flying over the sea and tried to steer towards a ground target. Air Traffic Control noticed he was turning towards the crowd and directed Stock, struggling to control the aircraft, towards the ground target.

“The pilot was concerned about the safety of the spectators… The aircraft was descending in a nose-down attitude towards the ground, rolling toward the right, going inverted,” the report said.

Stock tried to eject, but according to a transcript included in the report, his last words at 10.22.04am were: “Ejection seat failure, ejection seat failure, tell her I love her very much.”

“A ball of dark smoke was emanating from the the accident site… The evidence shows the aircraft exploded during the impact sequence,” the report said. It was later found flames had come from the fuselage while the aircraft was in flight.

The report said:

* “Thunder City’s level of compliance was always and remained a challenge for the [SA Civil Aviation Authority].

“Quality and safety systems were not implemented… Thunder City promised in their action plans to correct the situation, but did nothing.”

* When it came to the two types of aircraft Thunder City used at the air show, the company’s ability “to properly manage the operations of aircraft and pilot flying were inadequate”.

* The accountable manager, management personnel, thecertifying inspectors and others, equally responsible for ensuring the aircraft were maintained in accordance with the relevant regulations, “were displaying poor management and workmanship qualities”.

“They all neglected to identify, analyse and prevent unsafe conditions in the organisation.”

Asked to respond on Thursday, Thunder City issued a statement saying it had not been aware that the authority’s report had been issued. It had not had time to study it.

Also, none of its senior members had been interviewed, nor had statements been taken, Thunder City said.

“Our initial findings, after a cursory read, leave us in no doubt that this report is seriously flawed and smacks of a witch-hunt…

“Even at a superficial level, while the report appears to be thorough, we have found blatant falsehoods, errors, illogical conclusions, clear contradictions as well as glaring omissions.”


Thunder City planned to conduct an independent investigation into the crash using qualified experts.

This was expected to take about three months.

Stock’s son, Gareth Stock, 23, said he had seen the report for the first time a few weeks ago.

“It was just good to see and know what happened to [my father] and why… It was a little bit frustrating that it took so long,” he said.

Stock said investigators from the SA Civil Aviation Authority had initially told his family that they would probably be given answers about the crash in about six months, but it had taken about two and a half years.

He had been told the report was “100 percent” accurate.

The recording of his father’s last words in the aircraft had been played to his family. He was not sure who his father had been referring to when uttering his last words, “… tell her I love her very much”.

“It’s difficult to pinpoint who it was about,” Stock said.

His father was engaged and had a former wife of 14 years. “He had so little time, he probably meant he loves all his family and friends,” Stock said.

He said Thunder City had not been in contact with him.

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#16 Post by Cacophonix » Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:40 am

Returning to Duxford, I note that I have a slew of photo's of power plants and engines (being my main interest if the truth be told). I won't bore people too much with these but couldn't go by without at least one of note and an aircraft type close to the hearts of some here who may have flown it.

The Comet 4 seen darkly...
Comet 4.JPG
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Some old engine.JPG
Some old engine.JPG (52.82 KiB) Viewed 812 times
Harrier and Tornado.JPG
Harrier and Tornado.JPG (63.91 KiB) Viewed 812 times
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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#17 Post by Boac » Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:06 am

Cape - as an ex Lightning driver I naturally followed the TC accident with interest. There was one picture in which a retired Lightinng SENGO pointed out to me the visible but small 'flame' under the rear of the jet on a flypast before the crash. If I recall correctly (a miracle!) was it not failure of the canopy to jettison whcih blocked the ejection sequence?

The point mentioned about 'leaking fuel' reminds me of the Lightning pilot's 'line' that if the jet did not have puddles of fuel under it when you walked round it, you should summon the engineer and ask why it had not been refuelled. :)) They leaked like sieves - even after the TLC Alison would have given at Leconfield. Fire integrity mod after Fire integrity mod did not really cure the problem, and since the fuel and hydraulics ran within a few inches of the engines and tailpipes, and there was no manual control reversion.......................

I had a very interesting time many years back in the West Country on a builder's site which had several Lightning airframes strewn around. He had many stories and piccies of the LIghtning, Bucc and Strikemaster ferries etc.

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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#18 Post by Cacophonix » Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:51 am

Boac wrote:
Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:06 am
Cape - as an ex Lightning driver I naturally followed the TC accident with interest. There was one picture in which a retired Lightinng SENGO pointed out to me the visible but small 'flame' under the rear of the jet on a flypast before the crash. If I recall correctly (a miracle!) was it not failure of the canopy to jettison whcih blocked the ejection sequence?

The point mentioned about 'leaking fuel' reminds me of the Lightning pilot's 'line' that if the jet did not have puddles of fuel under it when you walked round it, you should summon the engineer and ask why it had not been refuelled. :)) They leaked like sieves - even after the TLC Alison would have given at Leconfield. Fire integrity mod after Fire integrity mod did not really cure the problem, and since the fuel and hydraulics ran within a few inches of the engines and tailpipes, and there was no manual control reversion.......................

I had a very interesting time many years back in the West Country on a builder's site which had several Lightning airframes strewn around. He had many stories and piccies of the LIghtning, Bucc and Strikemaster ferries etc.
Boac I am sure you, like me, read the SACAA report but I couldn't remember the full details so I reread it after your interesting post and paste some of the salient points relevant to your post above...

As for the fuel leaks, I visited the Thunder City maintenance hangar at Cape Town International and saw exactly what you describe with multiple drips trays etc. under the Lightnings. This was some two years before the ZU-BEX accident.

On the ejector seat the SACAA had this to say...
Both ejection seats of the aircraft each had five safety pins to preventing them from being activated inadvertently. The safety pins on the port side ejection seat were removed to arm the seat. The pilot was required to pull either one of the two firing handles provided on the ejection seat to activate the ejection sequence. The pilot reported an ejection seat failure, assuming that he pulled both firing handles. The pilot realised that the seat was not ejecting which posed a life threatening situation for him as he was trapped inside the cockpit

In case of an automatic ejection activation failure, the pilot had another option of activation of the system manually. The alternate means of activation of the ejection system required that the pilot attempt to open the canopy by means of levers inside the cockpit to unlock the canopy manually. Though it could not be conclusively determined, the possibility exists that the pilot probably attempted to open the canopy manually also, but he was not successful. The aircraft ended up impacting the ground with the canopy closed. (vi) Factor #6 - The tail section of the aircraft was burning during the flight. The area of the fuselage where the fire was observed had hydraulic equipment which was critical to the safety of the aircraft. The aircraft was equipped with a fire detection system to warn the pilot when fire erupts in the affected area. The pilot did not call a fire emergency, which suggested that he was not aware of the fire situation. It is possible that the fire detection system was inoperative or not even installed. The issue of the fire in flight was a serious factor which influenced flight safety and survivability. If the pilot knew about the in flight fire, he may have “bailed out” from the aircraft earlier or handled the situation differently.
ZU-BEX on fire.JPG
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For those who are interested it is well worth reading a thoroughly professional, detailed and fair SACAA report that shows that the Thunder City maintenance operation was not in compliance, that the aircraft certificate of release to service had expired and that the ejector seat's maintenance had also been deferred.


http://www.caa.co.za/Accidents%20and%20 ... s/8706.pdf


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Re: Duxford visit 08/04/2018

#19 Post by Boac » Thu Apr 12, 2018 10:25 am

A thorough report, highlighting many potential causes for the crash. (Speeling poor!)

David did not have much of a chance, sadly. At least he would have died quickly.

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