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SA born pilot dies in ejector seat tragedy
- A South African born pilot with the Royal Air Forces Red Arrows display team died after his ejector seat was activated while he was taxiing on the runway, sending him more than 60-metres into the air. Reports said the cockpit canopy failed
to open properly, forcing Johannesburg born Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham through the glass hatch. He landed without an emergency parachute.
The Ministry of Defence has banned flights by warplanes fitted with the ejector seats involved in the accident, resulting in the Royal Air Force grounding nearly 350 fast jets - Hawks, Tornado GR4 and Tucano - amid concern that crews’ safety was at risk following the death of Flt Lt Cunningham. All suspended aircraft are fitted with Martin Baker Mk10 ejector seats. The grounding is expected to last for a few days.
Operations in Afghanistan and the defence of Britain will not be affected but training programmes will be hit, according to a MoD statement.
An independent investigation by the Military Aviation Authority will focus on whether the accident was caused by a technical malfunction or pilot error.
Flt Lt Cunningham joined the world-renowned Red Arrows last year and flew in air shows over the summer.
The Iraq veteran died when his ejector seat went off while the Hawk T1 jet was still on the runway at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, throwing him up to 200 feet into the air. It is understood that the parachute failed to deploy and he plunged to the ground. He was the second Red Arrows pilot to be killed in ten weeks. Flt Lt Jon Egging, 33, died in August when his jet crashed after an air show in Bournemouth.
According to Martin Baker, the Mk.10 seat is designed in four main units, catapult, main beam structure, seat pan and parachute assembly which simplifies and speedsmaintenance or cockpit access as the seat can be rapidly installed or removed by assembly or disassembly of the main units in the aircraft.
Elaine Findlay, of the Bournemouth Red Arrows Association, said: ‘We haven’t got over losing Jon Egging and now we have this dreadful news. They are such brilliant aviators, and so loved and admired by the public.’
Military chiefs said an independent inquiry would be launched into the tragedy which happened at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. Crucial to the investigation will be whether there were any problems with the ejection seat or if its parachute failed to open.
Last year the RAF grounded its fleet of 126 Hawk T1 jets – used by the Red Arrows for their high-speed formations – after faults with the seats were discovered.BOYHOOD DREAM
"Being on the Red Arrows team has been my dream job and something I have wanted to do since I can remember. I remember seeing them on the telly and thinking I want to be able to do that.’
Flt Lt Cunningham said in a media interview earlier this year. He qualified for his private pilot’s licence when he was 17 and joined the RAF in 2000 after studying electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Nottingham. He grew up in Binley, near Coventry – 15 miles from the Warwickshire village of Ufton where Flt Lt Egging was raised and joined the Red Arrows last year at the same time as Flt Lt Egging.
