ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 144336
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| Date: | Thursday 9 December 1982 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  BAC Jet Provost T5A |
| Owner/operator: | 7 FTS RAF |
| Registration: | XW417 |
| MSN: | EEP/JP/1039 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Thirlmere Reservoir, Allerdale, Cumbria -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire (EGXG) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
The pilot was a Waddington based Vulcan Co-pilot who was on a "Co-pilot Enrichment Scheme" flying training course at RAF Church Fenton based No.7 FTS. This course was designed to allow the co-pilots, particularly of the then soon to be retired Vulcan fleet, to gain further first pilot experience in different scenarios to those that they had become used to prior to moving on to different types.
Flt Lt Michael Gene O'Neill was flying the third out of four Jet Provosts which took off from the Yorkshire air station for a low level cross country navigation exercise which was routed through the Lake District. However the area was largely obscured by low clouds and three of the four pilots elected to divert from the planned route to avoid the low cloud.
However Flt Lt O'Neill did not divert around the low cloud, his aircraft was seen in the vicinity of Thirlmere though his intended route seems to have been over Ullswater, shortly afterwards it was heard towards the southern end of the lake and then seen diving out the low cloud. The aircraft dived into an area of forestry land close to the Lake and was completely destroyed.
Pilot - Flight Lieutenant Michael Gene O'Neill RAF (Service Number 8026874, aged 26), of Aylesbury. Killed on active service 9/12/1982. Cremated Lincoln.
The RAF Court of Inquiry reached the conclusion that while trying to climb through the low cloud to avoid the high ground ahead and to either side the pilot had lost control of the aircraft and was unable to regain control or eject before it crashed.
On 9/12/1982 XW417 was Struck off charge as CAT 5(Scrap) and on 5/1/1983 the recovered remains were scrapped.
Sources:
1. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/lake-district/bac-jet-provost-xw417-thirlmere/
2. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1982.htm
3. http://www.ukserials.com/pdflosses/maas_19821209_xw417.pdf
4. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/xw417.html
5. http://www.jetprovostfile.org/jet-provost-crashes/
Media:
Jet Provost T.5 XW417 at RAF Cranwell, seen taking part in the Wright Jubilee aerobatic competition 7 May 1975
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Mar-2012 17:32 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 10-Nov-2014 23:43 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 20-Nov-2018 17:56 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator] |
| 10-Sep-2020 21:19 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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