Red Arrows Pilot killed in ground accident

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What puzzled me when listening to the report on Radio 4 was that the police were called.
Is this normal practice, or should something more be read into it?

It's a terrible tragedy whatever happened, and must yet again call the future of the Red Arrows into question.
 
I'm guessing he wasn't strapped in as triggering a seat at ground level isn't in itself a problem (they are generally 'zero/zero' i.e. designed to work at zero feet and zero mph). Anyway, a tragic accident.
 
on the BBC website there is a picture of 2 planes. One has the cockpit perspex open and the other has clearly been smashed through - does look as if the seat and pilot went through the canopy. Desperately sad news.

LINK
 
The seat is designed to go through the canopy - part of the sequence shatters it by detonating explosive cord built in to it.
 
Weren't Hawks grounded before some time back because of concerns over their ejector seats?
 
The seat is designed to go through the canopy - part of the sequence shatters it by detonating explosive cord built in to it.

Sorry-should have been explicit-i did mean it looked like the seat "punched" through the canopy without the charges going off
 
Only speculating here but, I don't think the Ejector Seat went through it's full initiation sequence. The canopy of a Hawk has a MDC (miniture detination cord) running through it that explodes the canopy into (if I recall correctly) four pieces, allowing the seat and pilot to travel through, and from the pictures I've seen it looks like the MDC hasn't functioned correctly. This leads me to believe that the droge gun has fired which is the 1st stage of ejection and pushed the seat and pilot into the canopy.

Not all ejection seats were/are designed to operate from the ground, but I'm sure the seat in the Hawk is able to, so he is very unlucky to suffer injuries bad enough for him to loose his life with a full initiated eject. I appreciate that not all ejects are straight forward and it would depend how he lands and if there was enough time for him to become detached from his seat once clear of the aircraft.

The seats have multiple safety pins in them to stop the seat functioning when people are working around it. Obviously these pins are removed before flight and the operating handles are quite stiff so they don't simply fall out operating the seat. The techie's and armourers look after the aircraft prior to flight and ensure everything is 100% correct before leaving the aircrew with the aircraft so I don't suspect physical damage either.

Something very strange has gone on here, or there has been a major error in judgement by the aircrew. Let's see what the enquiry brings out.

My thoughts are with the friends and family of the pilot. RIP Sir!
 
Also, it is not unknown for un-commanded ejections to occur, both on the ground and in the air.

Still, it is desperately sad news. They are having a very rough time of it, as has been said.

I for one think it is wrong and inappropriate to call the future of RAFAT into question. It was not many years ago that the RAF used to lose double figures of airframes (and their crews) annually. Thankfully this does not happen anything like as frequently as it used to do, but they operate in a very different environment to the majority of us, and trying to draw parallels just doesn't work.

Per ardua...

P.S. In the bbc photo, I can see the seat guide rail protruding up, but I can't see any remains of a canopy?
 
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