Originally Posted by
Bob Viking
I know and respect your experience and I’m not trying to pick a fight.
If we’re going to play the willy waving game though I am a CURRENT Hawk QFI with very nearly 3000 hours on Hawks (T1/T2/115/165/166) and have at various times been a standards QFI as well in three different Air Forces so I am hardly an amateur. I do not have direct experience of ejecting though so you definitely trump me there.
Please remember that the report is discussing the Hawk T1 and its ejection seat. The Hawk I currently fly has a much updated seat that does not use the mechanical scissor shackle. The seat pan handle modification also makes it impossible to install the pin in the wrong place.
I know you feel very strongly about installing a pin whilst taxying because of the procedures that were in place when you were flying on bang seats. However, vacating the runway and stopping (that is the current recommended procedure) to install the pin is not inherently unsafe. In fact I would argue that the sooner you can make the seat safe, the better.
I know we can dream up scenarios where a ground ejection during taxy back to dispersal is necessary but personally I would rather take my chances with vacating the aircraft manually once I am at safe taxy speed.
I know we will never agree on this but the current procedures were not dreamed up on a whim and have been subject to extraordinary levels of scrutiny by people with a lot of experience and approved by individuals who would be required to represent themselves in court.
BV
No willy waving on my part. The point I was making is that I am not an “ armchair quarter back”. You may know, others may not.
If the current SOP is to clear the runway, STOP, and then replace the pins I see no issue there at all, seems perfectly safe and reasonable.
However, if the likely procedure ( inserting pin by feel at 50 Knots on a formation roll out) as suggested in 1.4.2.22 in the service enquiry WAS done, that is totally different and I can think of NO reason for such premature action.I have my views on that based on what was practiced, totally different, during my 12 years of ejection seat occupancy and during which I was the refresher course instructor of several very influential and senior pilots including commandant ( des) of CFS.
None did anything remotely like that.
I rest my case.