Originally Posted by
RetiredBA/BY
Tecumseh and engines, thank you, gentlemen, for your detailed reply.
Having read the SI it still sticks in my craw that M.B. were fined for not protecting the RAF
from itself ( at least that is how it appears to me) as there is a list of 14 contributory factors in that SI.
The one item, of several, which really disturbs me is that there was a practice of inserting the. SFH pin WITHOUT visual reference, hard to believe that such a safety critical item was so (mis) managed.
Another thing which I do not understand, and to which no one has yet given a reasonable answer:
If the pin was removed before engine start it follows that taxi OUT was conducted with a live seat.
Why, then, was the SFH pin replacement not left in place during the taxi IN and carefully replaced, with visual observation and confirmation of correct replacement, on reaching the pan and the engine shut down ?
It’s a long time since I was a QFI, (and my own ejection) but I just cannot begin to understand why such an unsafe practice was allowed, tolerated, let alone became an SOP.
Has that practice been changed following this tragic death ?
I haven’t flown a Hawk for a long time, but how do you propose “showing someone that the pin is in the seat”? By definition the pin is fitted to the seat pan handle and therefore can’t be seen easily from outside..
Certainly on my own fleet the pin is shown to the ground crew prior to taxy, then inserted into the stowage which is below the cockpit sides.