ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 55404
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| Date: | Friday 17 May 2002 |
| Time: | 14:50 |
| Type: |  Panavia Tornado GR4 |
| Owner/operator: | 13 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | ZA599 |
| MSN: | 120/BT025/30 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Bank of River Humber Estuary, near Brough, Humberside -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Marham, Norfolk (KNF/EGYM) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Crashed into the North Bank of the River Humber estuary near Brough, East Yorkshire after both crew had ejected following control difficulties. They were rescued by the Coastguard and then transported to hospital by Sea King XZ593. According to a contemporary newspaper report (based on the Mod/RAF Board of Inquiry report):
"Pilot 'not to blame for crash'
An RAF Tornado that ditched in the River Humber was brought down by a catastrophic mechanical failure, it emerged yesterday" [23 July 2004] "more than two years after the event
The GR.4 jet crashed into the water on May 17, 2002, narrowly avoiding the town of Brough on the north bank of the river estuary. Seconds earlier its two-man crew had ejected. Neither of them suffered serious injuries.
The plane landed in the river by pure chance after a fuel fire damaged both its electronic flying system and its mechanical back-up, causing the aircraft to lose control. The pilot was rescued in the water drifting towards the Humber Bridge, dressed in just his normal flying suit and life jacket, after falling unconscious from the plane, while the navigator managed to use his dinghy and was picked up by a Search and Rescue Sea King helicopter.
The RAF board of inquiry made no criticism in its report of the pilot's actions. But one of its seven recommendations is that, if the aircraft is likely to lose control, the crew should "avoid built-up areas where possible".
The report said the crew was flying from RAF Marham, in Norfolk, on a routine low-level flying training mission. Nearly an hour into their trip they were alerted to a problem. The report said that, for 78 seconds, they were faced with "multiple unrelated captions and symptoms of failure".
"Shortly before the aircraft crashed, the controls stiffened and the aircraft performed a violent and uncommanded pitch down that the pilot could not correct,'' it said.
The plane, which had settled into a 28 degree dive before hitting the river, suffered massive impact damage. Although a salvage team spent weeks searching for debris, it was only able to recover two-thirds of the plane. Much of the wreckage was difficult to positively identify – many components "simply disintegrated''.
The report added: "After lengthy and detailed investigation, the Board determined that the most likely sequence of events leading to the loss of ZA599 was that fuel had leaked from the fuel tank vent line through a faulty coupling located in the rear fuselage and had been ignited by a hot intercooler ejector pipe which carried hot air from the engine.''
The fire damaged the electronic flying control system as well as the mechanical flying control rods in an area of the fuselage where there is no fire detection or suppression system. The report's other recommendations concentrate on reviewing the flying control system and taking action to minimise the risk of fuel leakage.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said the pilot had been left with no option after he lost control. She said the RAF's accident record had steadily improved over the last decade, adding: "Flight safety is something that we take incredibly seriously. Our aim is obviously to have no accidents at all, but realistically that's unlikely to happen. What we do is take every step to minimise risks.''
The crash triggered emergency beacons both in the aircraft and on the men, and RAF helicopters were immediately scrambled. A police helicopter was quickly at the scene as was the inshore rescue boat Humber Rescue, which pinpointed the men in the water."
NOTE: Although the official MoD/RAF Board of Inquiry states that ZA599 was attached to 13 Squadron, RAF at the time of the crash, other sources state that it was a II (2) Sqn Tornado GR4 being flown by a IX (9) Sqn crew (see link #5)
Sources:
1. http://www.ukserials.com/pdflosses/maas_20020517_za599.pdf
2. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/local-stories/fire-caused-raf-jet-to-ditch-in-river-says-investigation-repor-1-2547010
3. http://web.archive.org/web/20161217162447/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/tornado.htm
4. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/531572-flt-lt-sean-cunningham-inquest-37.html
5. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.rec.aviation/J-ZQLs7cvaU
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Jul-2011 07:19 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
| 05-Apr-2013 16:26 | Nepa | Updated [Operator] |
| 01-Dec-2014 23:12 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 21-Jul-2016 13:23 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 14-Nov-2018 15:19 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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