Gnat Crash At Carfest

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Discussion

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,371 posts

186 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Reported that a Gnat has gone down at Carfest.

Appears to be one of the aircraft based at Kemble although nothing has been officially confirmed as yet & no idea what happened or whether got out.

Pictures on FB don't look good though.

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Hopefully the pilot got out. Ejector seat fitted in them, although they are not necessarily 'armed'?

The Mustang pilot at Duxford got out safely at very low level a few years back, even without an exploding seat. There's hope for the pilot at the moment, although the lack of any confirmation of the pilot being safe doesn't bode well.

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/local-news/...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-33...

Chester Chronicle said:
The plane thought to be involved in the incident is part of the Gnat Display Team.

They are based at North Weald Airfield, and part of the Heritage Aircraft Trust. The display team is made up of Folland Gant aircraft, which is a British swept wing subsonic jet trainer and light fighter.

The Gnat Display Team, based at North Weald Airfield, is part of The Heritage Aircraft Trust.It was never used as a fighter by the RAF, but was heavily used as a trainer.

The aircraft first flew in 1955. It was used as part of the Red Arrow aerobatic display team until 1979, when it was replaced by the Hawk T1.

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,371 posts

186 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
I was about to correct it to North Weald.

Reports say that the aircraft was inverted when it went down & that no parachute was seen by anyone.

Not good.

mattdaniels

7,353 posts

281 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Spitfire incident at Biggin Hill today too - loss of power on take off. Aircraft damaged but pilot OK.

Not been a good 48 hours for aviation. frown

aeropilot

34,299 posts

226 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
fatboy69 said:
Reports say that the aircraft was inverted when it went down & that no parachute was seen by anyone.
Film of crash being shown on Sky News. Doesn't look good, no ejection seen prior to film clip starting, and a/c did appear to go in in an inverted attitude frown

Eric Mc

121,783 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
It doesn't appear very hopeful to me, I'm afraid.

Condi

17,089 posts

170 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
West mids services say pilot ejected.

Eric Mc

121,783 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Who are "West Mids"?

Condi

17,089 posts

170 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
Who are "West Mids"?
Um, you know, like the West Midlands. A (quite large) part of England...

https://twitter.com/WMidsAlerts

rolleyes

Eric Mc

121,783 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
I was just wondering whether you were referring to BBC West Midlands, the West Midland Police, West Midlands Fire Service etc etc.

In other words, I was wondering what organisation were you quoting.

MajorProblem

4,700 posts

163 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
West mids services are the people providing the portaloos for carfest and are the best people to comment on the plane crash.

rolleyes

Condi

17,089 posts

170 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Okay, for the pedantic among you, and this being Boats Planes and Trains I should have expected it, West Midlands Emergency Alerts on Twitter (link provided above) are saying the pilot ejected.

FFS. Either use fking google or stop worrying.

Eric Mc

121,783 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Based on your post, I did Google West Midlands Police - as I assumed that's who you were talking about.

Googling "West Midlands" on it's own reveals absolutely nothing about Car Fest.

MajorProblem

4,700 posts

163 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
I was joking it's pretty obvious to 99.9% when you say west mids services they think emergency services.


Eric Mc

121,783 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Exactly. Especially when we are discussing an emergency type event.

Eric Mc

121,783 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Just been confirmed by Chris Evans that the pilot died in the crash.

Sad news - but not unexpected.

MartG

20,622 posts

203 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
From the video clip it looked like the aircraft was in a tight turn then suddenly went inverted and nosed down - even with the latest ejections seats it would have been dodgy getting out from that attitude and height, never mind the old model seat fitted to the Gnat frown

Steve_D

13,737 posts

257 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
MartG said:
From the video clip it looked like the aircraft was in a tight turn then suddenly went inverted and nosed down - even with the latest ejections seats it would have been dodgy getting out from that attitude and height, never mind the old model seat fitted to the Gnat frown
Would that have been a tip stall?

Steve

Burrow01

1,802 posts

191 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Assume it would have been an ex RAF pilot flying it?

Watched it happen - very surreal - saw the Gnat go into a very odd attitude, drop below the tree line then a plume of smoke :-(

ecsrobin

17,023 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
quotequote all
Gnat display team have announced that sadly pilot Kevin Whyman was the pilot involved. RAF trained and leaving behind a wife and young daughter. Very sad indeed.