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Date: | Thursday 30 September 1976 |
Time: | |
Type: | Hawker Hunter T Mk 66B |
Owner/operator: | Sultan of Oman's Air Force (SOAF) |
Registration: | 800 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Thumrait (Midway) AB -
Oman
|
Phase: | Taxi |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | OOTH |
Destination airport: | |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:ex-Royal Jordanian Air Force T.Mk.66, Origin and previous serial number unknown. Crashed and burnt out at SOAF Thumrait. This a/c was written off on 30-09-76 due to a multitude of coincidental failures. Some human and some mechanical. I have no record of the pilot who died, but the Airwork engineer was called Ian McCrorie. The aircraft had come out of the hangar after a check, and needed both a "taxy test" and a "high speed run". After the "taxy test" the pilot asked for a "high speed run" up to "take off" speed. This he completed and then applied the brakes. Upon stopping at the end of the runway, instead of taxying the a/c back to the dispersal he decided to do another "high speed taxy" along the main runway. Obviously he now had the fatal combination of both very hot brakes, and of course a tailwind. Just prior to reaching the "high speed turnoff" the pilot applied the brakes, these though unfortunately failed due to their heat retention and the a/c carried on, so he then released the tail chute. The chute though just wrapped itself around the tail of the a/c because of the tailwind, so once again the a/c carried on. At this point it was obvious to us all that the a/c would overrun the runway, but we had all forgotten about the deep trench that had been dug just past the threshold. On hitting this trench the undercarriage was ripped off and the underwing tanks which were full of fuel ignited. When the a/c finally stopped we expected to see the cockpit canopy blown off, this though never happened. There was a mechanical failure of the system, and both occupants were trapped and consequently died in their seats. Absolutely terrible to even think about it, we just hoped that they were overcome by fumes before the fire got to them. (eye witness report from Ian Hawkridge, formerly of Airwork Services Ltd., at Thumrait). W/O, 30-09-76.
Sources:
Hawker Hunter 1951-2008, David J. Griffin
Eye-witness account - Ian Hawkridge
Images:
Photo taken by Ian Hawridge (permission given for publication) in the dump at Thumrait AB after the wreckage of 800 had been recovered.
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
23-Jun-2009 12:05 |
RAFOHunter |
Added |
03-Jun-2010 10:35 |
Smudger |
Updated [Date, Source] |
03-Jun-2010 10:36 |
harro |
Updated [Date, Other fatalities, Damage, Plane category, ] |
25-Oct-2012 06:57 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Phase, Nature, Source] |
18-Jul-2016 06:09 |
Anon. |
Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
01-Apr-2018 15:47 |
TB |
Updated [Operator, Location] |