Originally Posted by
BEagle
Bob Viking, can you please tell us WHY zero-zero seat pins (MDC too?) are replaced on the move these days?
Surely it would be better to do so only when stationary and before unstrapping?
Hear, hear to that. Sorry, Viking, it's not time to put it to bed until we have the reason for the change to long tried and tested procedures . Who, CFS, 4 FTS, HS, MB, Boscombe, or REDS, and why?
I would argue , to any forum, that replacing a seat pin without a visual checK of correct insertion, is dreadful practice, even more so if the aircraft is moving and in close proximity to other moving aircraft.
Let's hope the RAF has changed this basically unsafe procedure.
I would ask too, does RAF engineering not require an independent inspector to sign off critical work such as the was done on the shackle before releasing it to fly?
"...and just for the record, I flew ejection seats for 12 years, ejected once, hence my close interest in this accident, and was senior standards QFI in my last unit, so not exactly an uninformed amateur in this matter.