INCIDENT AT VALLEY

[dook]

Bob V,

Used to be the RAF's Anglo-French air supremacy fighter-bomber!

Careful with the fighter bit!

[Bob Viking]

Dook

So you have no issue with the ‘air supemacy’ bit?!

I’ll take that!

BV

[essdee]

BV

Dook probably means that once you have established air supremacy you can deploy that asset.

[dook]

I do indeed.

d

[airpolice]

Bob, you seem a bit sensitive there. Did stickstirrer touch a nerve?

[Bob Viking]

Airpolice

You do like to stir don’t you?!

I am not at Valley right now so I know precisely zero about what happened. I’m not about to bug the guys at Valley for answers when they probably don’t have any and have better things to worry about.

All I have seen are the same pictures you have and I’m not about to hazard any guesses.

All I know is that one colleague is seriously injured and an (excellent and very well liked) engineer that I knew from my time on the Jaguar died.

Look elsewhere for your tidbits please.

BV

[Distant Voice]

Sincerely hope that this tragic accident is not the result of some rushed mitigation put in place as a result of Flt Lt Cunningham's accident. Late removal of SPFH safety pin springs to mind, along with modifications to the SPFH itself.

DV

[dook]

I expect this thread will develop once we get some well-informed armchair experts on the thread.

[H Peacock]

I expect this thread will develop once we get some well-informed armchair experts on the thread.

But that's to be expected from any internet rumour site! However on PPRuNe you will invariable find posts from many people with suitable experience that does mean their words can and do carry some creadance. The whole point of PPRuNe is that individuals can post a question, query, opinion, view etc before waiting for completed and published reports. If you don't want to read or hear these views then stay away. If you want to suggest that someone may have misunderstood an aspect then why not try to clarify!

It's tragic that a life was lost at Valley, but I don't believe that his thread has to become condolences only. Lots of discussion on command eject - not unreasonable with one of the 2 crew managing to survive, whether or not it turns out to be a factor. Also not unreasonable to discuss turn-backs; we know the Hawk took off from and turned-back to RAF Valley. Whether it was a practice that went awry or a real turnback/forced landing that ended in tragedy, you can't expect some speculation and hence 'discussion' not to take place.

[NutLoose]

Question, does the Hawk have a delay between both seats going out? like the Jag had. if I remember correctly the Jag had a slight delay to avoid the other seats rocket pack firing and also curved out both sides to avoid each seat.

[dook]

I don't recall that.

Two us successfully escaped from a T2 and we were just about simultaneous - well, we landed about 100 yards apart.

The rule was that the back-seater always went first.

[NutLoose]

It wasn't a lot but I seem to remember there was a slight delay when I did my seat course on it, which I couldn't understand as the seats were as far as I could see independant.

[superplum]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

Question, does the Hawk have a delay between both seats going out? like the Jag had. if I remember correctly the Jag had a slight delay to avoid the other seats rocket pack firing and also curved out both sides to avoid each seat.

Divergence is achieved by the rocket pack being "handed" - using differing venturis. IE. LH or RH. ISTR that both Jag seats had identical time delays at the BTDFU.

[H Peacock]

In the Hawk T1 with the CE selector up and on, operating the SPFH of the rear seat will simultaneously fire a cartridge within the CE selector which in turn provides a gas flow to operate the front seat harness power retraction unit. After a delay of 1/3 sec the front seat ejection gun is fired.

[stickstirrer]

[QUOTE=Bob Viking;10098708]I am often one of the more vocal posters on here with all matters pertaining to Hawk operations. However, there are times to STFU. This is one of them.

I doubt (hope) that anyone is going to indulge your question I’m afraid. Now is not the time.

No offence intended but I have actually been impressed by the lack of speculation on this site so far. Please can we keep it that way?

BV
Accepted. I’ll STFU.

[Dominator2]

The Hawk is after my time, I'm a Hunter trained pilot. However, can someone confirm that in the Hawk T1 if the front pilot ejects there is no command eject to the rear seat?

[Bob Viking]

Dominator

That is correct and true of all marks of Hawk.

[The Oberon]

1 x Red airborne 16.45 today

[Fonsini]

I would imagine that there have been instances of command ejection when the second party was completely unaware of what was about to happen. I can barely imagine the unpleasantness of being ejected when you don’t expect it.

[Vendee]

Originally Posted by Fonsini

I would imagine that there have been instances of command ejection when the second party was completely unaware of what was about to happen. I can barely imagine the unpleasantness of being ejected when you don’t expect it.

I know of one case where the nav in the back saved the pilots life by banging them both out. The "unaware" pilot claimed he was regaining control of the aircraft. The BOI agreed with the nav that the aircraft was indeed out of control and was about to crash imminently.