Sumaini
Again, the name Sumaini doesn't ring a bell. The Sir Abu Nuair accident was a result of the Sharjah Stn Cdr insisting on seeing signals from Bahrain concerning the tasking of the detached 152 sqn Twin Pioneer/s before the pilots. That morning I flew down to Muscat (Bait al falaj) and when I got back he met the aircraft and told me the other TP had been involved in an accident and that I was to land on Sir Abu Nuair and pick up the the crew. The other pilot, who had not meant to be flying that day, had been fast asleep after a heavy night when the stn cdr knocked on his door and belatedly gave him the signal tasking one TP to take aerial photos of a RN/Army amphibious landing excercise on the island. The aircraft with two crew, stn photographer and half a dozen joy riders arrived overhead too late to photograph the landing. Everything was already ashore. As usual none of the comms worked so the pilot decided to land and check if there was anything further he could do. On the landing run a protruding rock severed a brake pipe, the brakes on that side seized and while trying to correct the ensuing swing the aircraft nosed over. It was recovered by the RN on a floating platform called a Hippo, which was towed back to Dubai by a frigate a few days later.