How can I access old RAF accident/incident reports?
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How can I access old RAF accident/incident reports?
When I was in the RAF, I regularly read and re-read Inspectorate of Flight Safety accident reports. Unlike the airlines I have flown for, which have, after something bad happened, mostly denied that anything at all had occurred (unless there was a hole in the ground somewhere) the RAF was very open in its reports and these served as excellent educational material/awful warnings* to other pilots.
I have tried to find old IFS reports online without success. The IFS has disappeared and been replaced by something called DARS. The latter has a negligible footprint on the web.
Does anyone know of a way to access these old reports?
I have tried to find old IFS reports online without success. The IFS has disappeared and been replaced by something called DARS. The latter has a negligible footprint on the web.
Does anyone know of a way to access these old reports?
Last edited by crossingclimb; 22nd Nov 2011 at 22:05.
First place I'd look would be the national archives at Kew. Their website is reasonable, and I've certainly accessed a lot of other old RAF technical documents from there.
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You will find some here
Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Boards of Inquiry and Service Inquiries
And
Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Air Safety and Aviation Publications | MAAS
And
Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Air Safety and Aviation Publications | Flight Safety
Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Boards of Inquiry and Service Inquiries
And
Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Air Safety and Aviation Publications | MAAS
And
Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Air Safety and Aviation Publications | Flight Safety
You can access lots of official crash reports from this site,
UK Military Aircraft Losses. Just change the year at the top for whatever year you want. If the date is in red, then there is a report. I am not sure how far back the reports go. Oddly XL191 isn't available, though I am sure I have read it somewhere. There was a small thread on PPrune on it.
UK Military Aircraft Losses. Just change the year at the top for whatever year you want. If the date is in red, then there is a report. I am not sure how far back the reports go. Oddly XL191 isn't available, though I am sure I have read it somewhere. There was a small thread on PPrune on it.
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The RAF Museum Hendon have crash report cards giving the basic details. Here's one for Valiant XD864, August 1960:
The text reads:
The nosewheel failed to retract following a normal take off. The P was informed by ATC and acknowledged this by saying staying local to 'sort it out'. No further communication was received. A was seen by witnesses soon after levelling off to turn port and after this turn it 'wobbled' and 'appeared unsteady' and then descended rapidly. The port wing dropped but wings were levelled after this and A went into a shallow dive. From this descent A dropped the port wing and struck the ground. Shortly before impact, a sudden increase in E power was heard. On impact the A exploded, caught fire, and all the occupants were killed.
Board found primary cause of accident was that P in control (assumed Co P) entered the turn with insufficient speed and/or E power to maintain an adequate safety margin over stalling speed for the relevant flight configuration i.e. clean A. Contributary causes were (a) The failure of the nosewheel to retract. (b) P error in retracting flaps before complete retraction of U/C contrary to procedure as laid in Valiant pilots notes. There was evidence to show that the preparation for the flight was hurried. A.O.C-in-C states this accident has revealed an unsatisfactory state of affairs in No 7 SQDN.
The text reads:
The nosewheel failed to retract following a normal take off. The P was informed by ATC and acknowledged this by saying staying local to 'sort it out'. No further communication was received. A was seen by witnesses soon after levelling off to turn port and after this turn it 'wobbled' and 'appeared unsteady' and then descended rapidly. The port wing dropped but wings were levelled after this and A went into a shallow dive. From this descent A dropped the port wing and struck the ground. Shortly before impact, a sudden increase in E power was heard. On impact the A exploded, caught fire, and all the occupants were killed.
Board found primary cause of accident was that P in control (assumed Co P) entered the turn with insufficient speed and/or E power to maintain an adequate safety margin over stalling speed for the relevant flight configuration i.e. clean A. Contributary causes were (a) The failure of the nosewheel to retract. (b) P error in retracting flaps before complete retraction of U/C contrary to procedure as laid in Valiant pilots notes. There was evidence to show that the preparation for the flight was hurried. A.O.C-in-C states this accident has revealed an unsatisfactory state of affairs in No 7 SQDN.
