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Cherskiy

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/latest-east-anglia-news/Tornado-navigator-found-dead.3488657.jp

There was going to be a press conference about this incident at 2000 tonight. The Tornado was being test flown by a British Aerospace crew before being returned to service at Marham. The pilot managed to get the jet down safely at Marham.

One theory doing the rounds on the Internet tonight was that the nav's seat was not fitted correctly and that it slid down the rails when the pilot inverted the aircraft, the seat crashing through the canopy. Apparently the same thing happened to a Jet Provost crewman some years ago (although he survived).
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mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

He fell out of the aircraft. Very sad.

Barkingbiker · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2313 Location: Lincolnshire

If the seat had not been fitted correctly, it is highly unlikely that it could go through the extemely rigorous checks without being found. Because of the implications of an ejection seat being incorrectly fitted/refitted the checks in place are:-A technician/s fits equipment in accordance with (IAW)relevant maintenance procedures (MP) and signs for completing the work. A supervisor checks that the work has been completed IAW with the MP's and oversigns the technicians work. Another supervisor, carries out vital checks to ensure the above, a further supervisor, who has not been involved in the work at all, then carries out independent checks to ensure the above. Prior to flight, a before flight servicing is carried, part of which will require a visual inspection of the ejection seat and that all safety pins are fitted. A pre flight inspection is carried out by the aircrew, you can be sure that they will look very carefully at their ejection seats, particularly after what probably would have been in this case a test flight to check the aircraft after modification by BAe.
I would suspect, although I could be wrong, that human error, during flight, is the most likely cause of this tragic accident. It is not impossible for servicing error to be the cause, although, IMHO, because of the rigorous safety checks on ejection seats, I believe it to be highly unlikely.

BB Twisted Evil

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Cherskiy · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:55 am Post subject:

Thanks, BB - I didn't catch the press conference last night so have no idea what was said. As you say, there are plenty of procedures in place to make sure that such events don't happen - unfortunately the poor ground staff responsible for prepping the kite will be under the microscope at the moment.
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Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited)