Originally Posted by
MightyGem
No, it wasn't hated. When it stayed serviceable it was hard to beat, especially the Mk7 and 9. Mind you, it did kill a few of us.
Exactly.
It was simply not crash worthy in any way, as many BOIs were to point out, and post crash fires were common. In 1994 when Les Berrisford and his pilot lost their Main Rotor Blade at 2,000 feet with predictably tragic consequences in XZ650, confidence in the Lynx was severely eroded. It was hard to fly a Lynx and not consider that particular outcome at some point. Westlands and the MoD did the usual dick-dance over accountability on that one, finally saying it was a one-off event caused by unique manufacturing circumstances, only to have Gazelle ZA777 have a tie-bar failure and blade loss in 2001 with the loss of Simon Hill. In 1999 the Leicester Lynx crash (XZ 199) took 3 lives in a post crash fire following an in-flight mechanical break up.
Flying carries risk, and military flying even more so. We all know that when we sign up, but the cavalier disregard for the safety record of the Lynx (not forgetting all the Royal Navy and foreign losses) and the wilful ignorance of the post-crash fire risk by the authorities is still shameful.
It seems cruelly ironic to say how nice it was to fly when it has killed quite so many friends and colleagues.