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A STOL approach that goes a little wrong. He stays with it a long time before going for the Martin Baker flyby.

Time to leave

Matt

Watch the video and think about what the pilot can see.

[quote]Watch the video and think about what the pilot can see.

Maybe he had a back up plan and that's why he stuck with it so long.

Maybe he had a back up plan and that's why he stuck with it so long.

What would that be..............Please make that go away, please make that go away, please make that go away

Matt

Maybe he waited to put the handbrake on so no-one could steal the wreckage! 

WTH sorta seat they got in that thing ?

I saw a stooper-trooper (read stupid crew chief) eject himself out of a parked A-10 while I was delivering munitions to the flightline, he was playing 'fighter pilot' and pulled the handle on an improperly safed seat.

Although he did not stay with the seat during the entire "trip", he and the seat seperately attained way more altitude than this Harrier driver did.  And this was in 1981! 

I know they hafta have at least an ACES II in them there jets!

British Harriers are fitted with Martin-Baker Mk. 9A or Mk. 12 seats. http://www.martin-baker.com/products/Ejection-Seats/Mk--12H---Harrier.aspx

Also the the MK12 seat makes it's own decisions as to what sort of ejection is required depending on altitude and aircraft speed. It has two modes, a fast and (relatively speaking) slow mode. The difference being, it can put the pilot of a fully deployed chute in (if memory serves) 1 point eye blink seconds and 1.7 or so. It can also be used at speed over 600 knots. It has a clever rigging system that collapses the chute a high airspeeds, imagine the pulsing of a jelly fish and you get the picture.

Matt

British Harriers are fitted with Martin-Baker Mk. 9A or Mk. 12 seats. http://www.martin-baker.com/products/Ejection-Seats/Mk--12H---Harrier.aspx

Not as much oomph as an ACES II I reckon?

Any idea what actually happened? It looked like a bad case of 'oh so that is where the ground is' just before meeting with it. Late to pull up, perhaps late to eject, definately late for dinner.

Forgot about the first 'hit'.

The poor guy took three altogether.

British Harriers are fitted with Martin-Baker Mk. 9A or Mk. 12 seats. http://www.martin-baker.com/products/Ejection-Seats/Mk--12H---Harrier.aspx

Not as much oomph as an ACES II I reckon?

Any idea what actually happened? It looked like a bad case of 'oh so that is where the ground is' just before meeting with it. Late to pull up, perhaps late to eject, definately late for dinner.

What happened is the wrong manoeuvre in the wrong country. Sounds daft I know, but let me explain. The Harrier is very marginal on thrust when not in conventional flight. The pilot was performing a very short landing. The video looks like Afghanistan from the amount of Rubs (rubber hangers in the background). So add marginal engine performance to high air temperatures and, well you get this. In a previous life that involved a light blue suit I spent quite a lot of time in a hot sunny country with the Harrier Force for Op Warden. The Harrier could only fly early in the morning or evening due to air temperature conditions and was limited to conventional take off and landing. The moment that this pilot decided to perform this landing, he placed his order for his Martin Baker tankard and tie. Also he was unlucky on two other fronts. Firstly it was all captured in glorious technicolour and the Harrier is one of the few fighters that has an accident data recorder . So a nice print out of his accident at 0,1 second intervals too.

Matt

Looks like this happened a little over a year ago, based on searching. But I could not find any accident reports.

Anyone gotta link?