Red Arrows Incident

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Does anybody know what the 'incident' is that the BBC have been reporting has happened at Scampton?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15640104

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Some sites are reporting an ejection. No further details though.

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It looks like they have now confirmed a pilot has been injured on the ground. No idea of condition yet though.

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Unconfirmed reports say that it looks very bad...

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This is Lincolnshire now saying that the pilot is believed to be dead.

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y2blade said:

Twitter says refuelling incident.

bloodyhell

I also read on twitter that the pilot was ejected on the ground but the chute failed to open....

The problem with Twitter is that some people will speculate without fact.

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Are the Hawk T1 seats 0/0 rated?

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I recall they did yes.

Incredibly sad.

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This is Lincolnshire now state 'Injured' and not dead.

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To be fair to Twitter, it was 'ThisisLincolnshire' who stated he was dead. Twitter mainly linked to that site.

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Fighter Control even had a poster naming the pilot and was pretty descriptive of what happened. They are either a sick puppy for making it up or in the know. I hope it is the former because they confirmed the death. The post has since been removed and the site is now down.

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Don't forget that the canopy will stay with the Hawk like a lot of the RAF's fighters during an ejection. The glass should be destroyed by a charge though.

A friend of mine was flying a Harrier once when the charge went off unexpectedly.

Apparently the RAF bought him some new pants.

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If the poster on fighter control was correct then yes.

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The pilot was alleged to be Male.

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Well, it isn't a just reason for it to be the end but I am sure there are people that would like to use this as an excuse to push for it.

In a similar vein to the fact that recent incidents involving Indy Car, Moto GP and the M5 do not justify their end, this does not justify the end of the Arrows.

After all, they are the face of the RAF and very good for public relations abroad.

I can see though a big shake up IF it is proven that the aircraft was itself a contributory factor in both recent deaths.

It will also be very interesting to see if today's incident could be somehow linked to the grounding of the aircraft for concerns over the ejection seat recently.

In the short term though, I think we should all consider the two pilots the Arrows have lost and not what might be.

RIP Jon & Today's Pilot.

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I think we need to exercise some caution naming the pilot before the official announcement.

The name that has been mentioned on this thread is not the name that was being bandied around yesterday.

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Must be true then

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Even so, I think it was irresponsible of them and anyone else to name names when the family have expressly asked for it not to be released.

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y2blade said:

I though the "jump up and down" smiley was a bit inappropriate at the time

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/887...


R.I.P

What?!

It was being reported that he wasn't dead as was previoussly reported. Bearing in mind that that publication was the only one at the time to say he had died. I though that was a great reason to be happy.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, what is the view like on that high horse?