BANNED FROM FLYING: THE PLANES WITH A MARK 10 EJECTOR SEAT
- The suspension affected RAF aircraft fitted with Martin Baker Mk 10 ejection seats, which are the Tornado GR4, the Tucano and the Hawk.
- According to Martin Baker, the Mk.10 seat is designed in four main units, catapult, main beam structure, seat pan and parachute assembly.
- On its website, the company says: 'This greatly simplifies and speeds maintenance or cockpit access.
- 'The seat can be rapidly installed or removed by assembly or disassembly of the main units in the aircraft.
- 'As the aircraft canopy is not removed, valuable maintenance time is saved.The overall size footprint of the 10L seat has been tailored to suit a large number of aircraft installations.
A Red Arrows pilot died of multiple injuries after ejecting from his aircraft and landing while still strapped into his seat, an inquest has heard today.
Flight Lieutenant Sean James Cunningham, 35, was killed when he was ejected from his Hawk T1 while on the ground at the Red Arrows base at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire on November 8, the coroner at Lincoln Registration Office heard.
The inquest was told that Flt Lt Cunningham had completed ground safety checks when the ejector seat of his Hawk jet was deployed.
The main parachute did not deploy and the pilot did not become separated from his seat during the incident, the hearing was told.
He landed on the ground still strapped into his seat.
After the incident the Ministry of Defence banned flights by warplanes fitted with the ejector seats involved in an accident which killed a Red Arrows pilot.
An ambulance was called and Flt Lt Cunningham was taken to Lincoln County Hospital where he was confirmed dead in A&E at 12.14pm.
A full investigation into how the ejector seat deployed is being carried out and further tests are being done, the inquest heard.
A post-mortem examination was carried out and the cause of death was given as multiple injuries due to a fall from height following ejection from an aircraft.
Toxicology tests were performed and came back negative.
Det Supt Shaun West, from Lincolnshire Police, told the inquest they were investigating the incident and were preparing a file for the coroner.
He said there were two critical questions they were investigating - why the ejector seat activated and why the parachute mechanism did not do what it was reasonably expected to.
He said they were using experts to help them examine the ejector seat.
Mr West said Lincolnshire Police were in regular contact with Flt Lt Cunningham's family, none of whom were present at the hearing.
Coroner Stuart Fisher adjourned the inquest to a later date but said it could be 'months' before it is reopened.
Military top brass took the decision to suspend the Hawk, Tornado GR4 and Tucano fleets from the air except for ‘non-essential’ flying as tributes poured in for the airman yesterday.
Operations in Afghanistan and the defence of Britain were not be affected but training programmes were hit, said the MoD.
All aircraft that were suspended are fitted with Martin Baker Mk10 ejector seats.
The suspension affected RAF aircraft fitted with Martin Baker Mk 10 ejection seats, which are the Tornado GR4, the Tucano and the Hawk.
According to Martin Baker, the Mk.10 seat is designed in four main units, catapult, main beam structure, seat pan and parachute assembly.
On its website, the company says: 'This greatly simplifies and speeds maintenance or cockpit access.
'The seat can be rapidly installed or removed by assembly or disassembly of the main units in the aircraft.
'As the aircraft canopy is not removed, valuable maintenance time is saved.The overall size footprint of the 10L seat has been tailored to suit a large number of aircraft installations.
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.
Earlier this year, Flt Lt Cunningham told how he had achieved his schoolboy dream of joining the Red Arrows.
Speaking to his local paper in May, he said: ‘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 qualified for his private pilot’s licence when he was 17.
He joined the RAF in 2000 after studying electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Nottingham.
Concerns about the ejection seats recurred when Flt Lt Egging was killed after the Bournemouth Air Show in August.
Minutes earlier his wife Dr Emma Egging had watched the breathtaking performance. Witnesses who rushed to the crash site in a field near the village of Throop found his body floating in the River Stour with the ejection seat a short distance away.
Flt Lt Cunningham joined the Red Arrows last year at the same time as Flt Lt Egging.
He grew up in Binley, near Coventry – 15 miles from the Warwickshire village of Ufton where Flt Lt Egging was raised.
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