ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 55422
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| Date: | Friday 8 July 1994 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Panavia Tornado F3 |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Air Force (RAF) |
| Registration: | ZH558 |
| MSN: | AT050 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 10 mi SSE of Akrotiri -
 Cyprus
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus |
| RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
While on approach to Akrotiri, Cyprus the pilot did not arrest the rate of descent and flew into the Mediterranean Sea ten miles south-south-east of the base. The crew made no attempt to eject and were both killed
ZH558 had taken off on to take part in an air to air gunnery sortie against a banner towed by a RAF Hawk. Take off was delayed due to fog and ZH558 too off with the navigator at the controls (ZH558 was twin stick). During transit to the area the radar became unserviceable and although ZH558 flew a number of passes against the barrier, no shots were fired. During the return to Akrotiri ZH558 began a decent from 5,000ft with full reheat selected and the aircraft began accelerating.
As ZH558 descended through 938ft, at 539 knots minimum reheat was selected on the right engine and the aircraft was flown wings level. At this point the high rate of decent was checked and ZH558 began a turn to the left at 68 degrees as it descended below 400ft. At 147ft, ZH558 was still at 68 degrees left bank, 2 degrees nose down and at 590 knots.
There were signs that ZH558 began to roll out of the turn but it struck the sea in a shallow decent, left wing slightly low. Neither crew had made any attempt to eject and both were killed in the impact.
The crew were found to have have been negligent in allowing the aircraft to flown into a situation where impact with terrain was not avoidable.
The pilot of this aircraft (Flight Lieutenant Stuart John MacDonald WALKER) had also been involved in another accident on the 21st October 1993 where it was found (although not at the time of this accident) that he was negligent in the handling of that emergency, resulting in the loss of Tornado F3 ZE858. The other member of the crew was named as Flight Lieutenant Nigel ORME.
Sources:
Flight International 16-22 August 1995
http://web.archive.org/web/20161217162447/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/tornado.htm
http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F8CF4514-C200-4A8E-ADC8-E2C19161EA49/0/maas94_05_tornado_fmk3_zh558_8jul94.pdf
http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1994.htm
Images:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Mar-2011 11:05 | harro | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Jul-2011 22:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Jan-2012 11:17 | sirjames111 | Updated [Country, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Jan-2012 10:00 | Nepa | Updated [Operator] |
| 12-Oct-2012 14:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Country, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 18-Jan-2014 20:10 | TB | Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
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