ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 89957
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| Date: | Saturday 9 December 2000 |
| Time: | 13:18 |
| Type: |  BAC 167 Strikemaster Mk 83 |
| Owner/operator: | Global Aviation Ltd |
| Registration: | G-BXFX |
| MSN: | PS162 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1970 |
| Engine model: | Bristol Siddeley Viper 20 MK 535 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Welton le Wold, 4 nautical miles NW of Louth, Lincolnshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Humberside Airport (HUY/EGUY) |
| Humberside Airport (HUY/EGNJ) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Ex G-27-155, ZG809, ex KAF114, to Botswana ADF as OJ-7, thence to G-BXFX 29/04/1997. Aircraft entered uncontrollable spin on post-overhaul test flight from Humberside Airport on 9/12/2000, and crashed at Welton-le-Wold, 4 nautical miles North West of Louth, Lincolnshire. Of the two crew, both ejected, but the pilot in command did not survive. According to the following excerpt from the official AAIB report into the accident:
"At 13:14 hours the pilot re-contacted Humberside Radar, was identified by the radar controller 9 miles south east of Humberside and offered a Radar Information Service (RIS). The controller suggested that if the pilot wished to carry out manoeuvres, his present position or one to the southwest in the Binbrook area would be satisfactory. The pilot replied that as he was in a turn to the right he would go back to the Binbrook area and operate from FL150 down to FL080.
Before carrying out the fully developed spins the pilot explained to the observer that initially he intended to carry out incipient spins to the left and right and added that Strikemaster aircraft on occasions were reluctant to spin. The observer reported that as the first incipient spin to the left was initiated the aircraft rapidly entered a fully developed spin. Moments later the pilot called out '100 and 3' (probably indicating that 3 turns of the spin were completed and the aircraft was passing FL100 with the altimeter was set to 1013 mb) followed immediately by an expletive.
By now the aircraft was spinning rapidly. The observer noticed that the pilot was moving the control column repeatedly from the neutral position to the fully forward position. He did not know what rudder pedal movements were being made for he had ensured that his feet were on the floor clear of the pedals before the exercise commenced. The pilot warned the observer to prepare for a possible ejection then transmitted "HUMBERSIDE FOXTROT X-RAY HAVE AN UNRECOVERABLE SPIN STAND BY".
The Humberside controller, who had noticed earlier that the primary radar return from the aircraft was stationary, heard the pilot's transmission and immediately contacted the Distress and Diversion (D&D) cell at the London Air Traffic Control Centre (LATCC) to apprise them of the situation.
The observer continued to notice the pilot's control inputs remembering that at one stage the pilot was holding the control column fully to the right with full back stick applied. He then described the aircraft's nose as appearing to 'go beyond the vertical, returning through the vertical and oscillating in pitch'. The pilot then asked the observer for a reading from the altimeter. The observer found this impossible for his eyes were drawn to the spinning compass and artificial horizon. He replied that he could not read the instrument. The pilot immediately said 'get ready to eject'.
The observer raised his arms to grip the upper ejection seat initiation handle and placed his feet on the rudder pedals, which by now were in the neutral position. He also remembered seeing 'the tinge of new green crops on a brown field through a thin haze layer of cloud below'. The pilot shouted 'EJECT! EJECT!' The observer pulled the upper ejection seat handle and as his parachute canopy deployed saw the aircraft wreckage close below him.
The observer estimated that he was beneath his parachute for only 5 seconds before his feet hit the ground. Winded and unsure of his injuries he elected to lay stationary on his back until medical help arrived."
Several witnesses in the local area saw the aircraft as it descended. One witness described the aircraft descending 'in a tight spiral several thousand feet up before the spiral became wide' with the aircraft acting 'like a leaf in the wind'. Another witness described the aircraft as 'cork screwing' with 'parts falling from the aircraft'. He saw 'one man eject at an estimated height of 250 feet'. After impact he attended the scene to find that one of the aircraft's occupants was close to the aircraft. He was still strapped to his ejector seat but had sustained fatal injuries. The other occupant was injured and lying on the ground close by still attached to his parachute. Whilst attending to the occupant close to the aircraft the witness noticed a small fire developing within the wreckage around the engine area. He retrieved a small fire extinguisher from within the damaged cockpit and with some difficulty extinguished the fire".
A contemporary BBC report (see link #5) of the inquest into the death of the pilot named the two crew as "John West, 51, of Barnack, Lincolnshire" [who was killed] and "Engineer Tony Lyth, 51, of Whitby, North Yorkshire" [who ejected and survived]. Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "aircraft destroyed". As a result, the registration G-BXFX was cancelled by the CAA on 19/4/2001 as "Permanently withdrawn from use"
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422fc3d40f0b613420007bd/dft_avsafety_pdf_500219.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=BXFX
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1063187.stm
4. http://web.archive.org/web/20170510042107/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/2000.htm#dec
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1410607.stm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Feb-2011 14:19 | harro | Added |
| 23-Nov-2011 19:48 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source] |
| 26-Nov-2011 04:56 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 24-May-2013 19:29 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 13-Nov-2014 08:46 | Anon. | Updated [Total fatalities] |
| 13-Jul-2016 00:41 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jul-2016 00:48 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jul-2016 01:33 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
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