Not-so-woke Reds
Out of interest in normal trainer ops who would of been sat on the back seat? The instructor or the instructee?
With a compromised canopy like was would the ability to eject should a secondary event occur while returning be scuppered also? - should
even the canopy of blown through like it did? I expect the pop your safety hat on before you get on the job are going to be all over this event….
And clearly a fine demonstration as to why having a back seater on display is a bad, bad idea.
Out of interest in normal trainer ops who would of been sat on the back seat? The instructor or the instructee?
With a compromised canopy like was would the ability to eject should a secondary event occur while returning be scuppered also? - should
even the canopy of blown through like it did? I expect the pop your safety hat on before you get on the job are going to be all over this event….
Out of interest in normal trainer ops who would of been sat on the back seat? The instructor or the instructee?
With a compromised canopy like was would the ability to eject should a secondary event occur while returning be scuppered also? - should
even the canopy of blown through like it did? I expect the pop your safety hat on before you get on the job are going to be all over this event….
Anyway, bloody well done sir!
[...]it maybe worth while Red 10 spaffing off some loud bird scaring shots across the display line next year….[...]
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I assume this incident certainly ‘woke’ up the Reds’ pilot. Well done!
And clearly a fine demonstration as to why having a back seater on display is a bad, bad idea.
Out of interest in normal trainer ops who would of been sat on the back seat? The instructor or the instructee?
With a compromised canopy like was would the ability to eject should a secondary event occur while returning be scuppered also? - should
even the canopy of blown through like it did? I expect the pop your safety hat on before you get on the job are going to be all over this event….
Out of interest in normal trainer ops who would of been sat on the back seat? The instructor or the instructee?
With a compromised canopy like was would the ability to eject should a secondary event occur while returning be scuppered also? - should
even the canopy of blown through like it did? I expect the pop your safety hat on before you get on the job are going to be all over this event….
Yes, having an extra occupant can expose them to unnecessary risk, although there is a pretty thick blast screen between the cockpits so birds strikes like this rarely go through to the rear cockpit - although as can be seen in the picture above, there can be quite a lot of bird remains covering the screen and obscuring the back seater’s view forward.
In normal (pilot) training ops the instructor would sit in the back. The broken canopy would have damaged a lot of the miniature detonating cord in the front canopy - what was left ‘might’ detonate or not depending on where the breaks occur but the seat will push through any remaining bits of perspex if necessary - it shouldn’t affect an ejection by the back seater.
I'm not aware of a bird ever penetrating the blast screen between front and back seats in the Hawk. Had this bird disabled the pilot a back seater might have been handy.....
I noticed a bit of footage in this news item: https://www.deeside.com/canopy-of-re...rshow-display/ showing the pilot exiting through the shattered canopy. Just my curiousity, but is that to avoid issues with the det cord?
Broken canopy
I had a bird break my canopy once (the first time I called Mayday for real and it was on 1 May - Mayday!) and I had a wingman lose his canopy once as well. Both times in a Hawk T1.
The first incident was on a low level target run near Lampeter. A bird of prey hit the canopy directly above the students head in the front seat and left a roughly circular hole about 18” in diameter. It got very loud and very cold (May in Wales even at low level was not exactly tropical) but once we slowed down and were on our way to Cardiff it was much quieter. Still very hard to hear the radios though. In the back seat I was unaffected by wind blast but was glad I had a flying jacket on! We were able to open the canopy and exit normally.
The second incident was at low level near Aberystwyth and I saw my wingman inexplicably climb out of low level which usually means only one thing. I closed in and saw a very similar picture to Red 6’s jet. The front seater was hunched over and MDC was flapping about everywhere. He managed to cut some of it away I believe with his knife. I did all the comm for them and led them back to Valley. I’m glad I wasn’t in that one since I’ve seen what MDC can do to brick walls and doors. I wouldn’t want to wear it like a scarf.
Anyway, in this recent instance the Reds guys did exactly what they would have briefed and practiced multiple times. I would expect no less.
BV
The first incident was on a low level target run near Lampeter. A bird of prey hit the canopy directly above the students head in the front seat and left a roughly circular hole about 18” in diameter. It got very loud and very cold (May in Wales even at low level was not exactly tropical) but once we slowed down and were on our way to Cardiff it was much quieter. Still very hard to hear the radios though. In the back seat I was unaffected by wind blast but was glad I had a flying jacket on! We were able to open the canopy and exit normally.
The second incident was at low level near Aberystwyth and I saw my wingman inexplicably climb out of low level which usually means only one thing. I closed in and saw a very similar picture to Red 6’s jet. The front seater was hunched over and MDC was flapping about everywhere. He managed to cut some of it away I believe with his knife. I did all the comm for them and led them back to Valley. I’m glad I wasn’t in that one since I’ve seen what MDC can do to brick walls and doors. I wouldn’t want to wear it like a scarf.
Anyway, in this recent instance the Reds guys did exactly what they would have briefed and practiced multiple times. I would expect no less.
BV
I had a bird break my canopy once (the first time I called Mayday for real and it was on 1 May - Mayday!) and I had a wingman lose his canopy once as well. Both times in a Hawk T1.
The first incident was on a low level target run near Lampeter. A bird of prey hit the canopy directly above the students head in the front seat and left a roughly circular hole about 18” in diameter. It got very loud and very cold (May in Wales even at low level was not exactly tropical) but once we slowed down and were on our way to Cardiff it was much quieter. Still very hard to hear the radios though. In the back seat I was unaffected by wind blast but was glad I had a flying jacket on! We were able to open the canopy and exit normally.
The second incident was at low level near Aberystwyth and I saw my wingman inexplicably climb out of low level which usually means only one thing. I closed in and saw a very similar picture to Red 6’s jet. The front seater was hunched over and MDC was flapping about everywhere. He managed to cut some of it away I believe with his knife. I did all the comm for them and led them back to Valley. I’m glad I wasn’t in that one since I’ve seen what MDC can do to brick walls and doors. I wouldn’t want to wear it like a scarf.
Anyway, in this recent instance the Reds guys did exactly what they would have briefed and practiced multiple times. I would expect no less.
BV
The first incident was on a low level target run near Lampeter. A bird of prey hit the canopy directly above the students head in the front seat and left a roughly circular hole about 18” in diameter. It got very loud and very cold (May in Wales even at low level was not exactly tropical) but once we slowed down and were on our way to Cardiff it was much quieter. Still very hard to hear the radios though. In the back seat I was unaffected by wind blast but was glad I had a flying jacket on! We were able to open the canopy and exit normally.
The second incident was at low level near Aberystwyth and I saw my wingman inexplicably climb out of low level which usually means only one thing. I closed in and saw a very similar picture to Red 6’s jet. The front seater was hunched over and MDC was flapping about everywhere. He managed to cut some of it away I believe with his knife. I did all the comm for them and led them back to Valley. I’m glad I wasn’t in that one since I’ve seen what MDC can do to brick walls and doors. I wouldn’t want to wear it like a scarf.
Anyway, in this recent instance the Reds guys did exactly what they would have briefed and practiced multiple times. I would expect no less.
BV
As the damaged aircraft flew away from the Rhyl seafront and its mate was accompanying him back to Hawarden, it appeared that smoke was trailing from the engine. Does anyone know if this was simply the display smoke that wasn't yet/couldn't be turned off or if it was the engine running rough as a result of the impact?
Meanwhile…On the positive side
Great stuff Red 6! Saving lives, it’s what squippers do.
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