I accept that times have changed since I left, and through various channels, including this forum, I am also aware of the many reductions and restrictions the RAF have been subject to. Equipment shortages, manpower shortages, over-tasking, JPA, lack of identity through the wearing of Army style combat fatigues, increases in specialised tasks being farmed out to civil contractors, the gifting of Harriers to the US, no MPA, gross wastage of money on unnecessary projects, base closures, complete detachment of their airships from the mainstream, etc, etc. This has led to unbelievably low morale in all areas.
What I hadn't realised until I read the SI was just how low the general standards of operating and training had become. I am not going to knock RAFAT. I still think they are our best flag waver and advert for the RAF. They also form a window into the RAF in general. If things are bad at the RAF's premier and high-visibility asset, what chance for the rest of the guys and gals in blue? The pressures they were under at the time were not acceptable, a situation again reflected in the wider RAF. The shocking revelations that have been recorded in this SI suggest this only too clearly.
Overstress and Courtney,
When I joined the Hawk fleet in '79, the first thing every and all engineering staff were subjected to was Ejection Seat initial briefing. The intro was in the seat bay, and was always given by a SNCO Armourer employed in the seat bay. This was subject to a six-monthly repetitive refamil, and was recorded on our personal files. Some things in life you tend to remember with great clarity. If it is something that can kill you quick, you generally make a point of paying attention. Seat lectures were one of those occasions. 35 years later, most of that first brief about the Mk 10 seat is still crystal clear in my head, starting with "This chair is going to try and kill you in lots of different ways, and I am going to tell you how to stay alive".
The gotcha pin-in-SFH-out (position 2 in the SI) was not only known about, but highlighted and emphasised to us at each and every briefing. So, it was clearly well known then.
I was stunned to read in the SI the Reds had an engineering member who had not yet received a seat lecture. Was he actually involved in the maintenance of the aircraft at the time in a hands-on manner?
Camlobe