ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 55406
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| Date: | Thursday 14 October 1999 |
| Time: | morning |
| Type: |  Panavia Tornado GR1 |
| Owner/operator: | XV (R) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | ZD809 |
| MSN: | BS138 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 1½ nm SE of Kirkheaton, Northumberland -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Lossiemouth (LMO/EGQS) |
| Spadeadam Bombing Range, Cumbria | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
This aircraft encountered problems en route to the Spadeadam bombing ranges, and in close proximity to Newcastle Airport airspace, was twice forced to abort the mission, and return to the coast in line with correct procedures before attempting again to set course for Spadeadam. The weather in the area had been worse than what had first been expected and this was a major contribution to the accident.
Tornado ZD809 was not fitted with any Ground Proximity Radar which would have indicated to the two man crew Flt Lt's Richard Ashley Wright pilot aged 30 and his navigator Sean Casabayo also aged 30 just how close to the ground they were at the critical moment when ZD809 had to pull a hard left manouver to avoid entering Newcastle Airport airspace again.
The pilot had no rudder control for the crucial closing seconds which is a normal occurrence in such a manouver for a few seconds. The pilot did not have seconds to spare and could not recover the aircraft without his rudder control.
The Tornado came out of the low cloud and crashed into the ground of a ploughed field near a wood. The two crew sadly did not eject and were killed instantly. Wreckage was blown over a wide area and much of it fell into treetops in the nearby wood.
The BOI (Board of Investigation) inquiry concluded that pilot error and poor crew resource management were the primary cause of the accident. However, a ten seater commercial aircraft was seen flying very low in the area just before the Tornado crashed and at least one small piece of wreckage found in the ploughed field some three weeks later and viewed by an ex-Tornado airframe technician via email said it could not have come from a Tornado but must have been from an other aircraft?
Sources:
1. Tim Heath of MIA Aircrew Research 2009.
2. http://www.ukserials.com/pdflosses/maas_19991014_zd809.pdf
3. http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/battlefield-archaeology/in-memory-of-the-crew-of-tornado-zd809-crashed-14th-october-1999-a-26034/
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20161217162447/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/tornado.htm
6. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/2000/nov/29/tornado
7. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/392272-flt-lts-dicky-wright-sean-casabayo.html
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Feb-2009 08:36 | Anon. | Updated |
| 04-Jul-2011 07:19 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 05-Apr-2013 18:26 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 25-May-2013 01:37 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 18-Jan-2014 20:25 | TB | Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 05-Jul-2016 20:43 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Nov-2018 20:22 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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