2009 losses

09/02/2009 ZH656 104 Harrier T12 20 Sqn Lift was lost while in the hover at 68ft to land at Akrotiri, Cyprus and both crew ejected safely. This was due to running out of water for the engine water injection system which resulted in the loss of 3,000lb of thrust
12/03/2009 ZF344 344 Tucano T1 1 FTS Crashed onto the airfield at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire while performing aerobatics. The pilot ejected safely and received only minor injuries
14/05/2009 ZG478 68 Harrier GR9 1 Sqn, Operation Herrick After an uneventful two aircraft sortie their landing back at Kandahar, Afghanistan was held off by ten minutes due to a busy circuit. When cleared to land ATC requested an expedite landing and runway clearance due to heavy traffic. The wingman landed first due to low fuel but received a hostile missile alert and released flares. ZG478's turn onto finals was too short and 6,500ft higher than normal. Throughout the approach the rate of descent was too high and 'Hover Stop' was selected in an attempt to correct this. At 180ft full power was selected but the tail struck the ground 30ft from the threshold. The outriggers and main undercarriage collapsed as did the nose wheel when the aircraft pitched forward. The under wing stores (bombs, rockets, recce pod, targeting pod and drop tanks) caught fire as it slid along the runway for 4,000ft. During the slide the pilot turned the aircraft away from a formation of four aircraft waiting to take off then ejected when it came to a stand. The fire spread to engulf the whole aircraft
02/07/2009 ZE982 FR Tornado F3 43 Sqn While on a two ship low level training sortie from Leuchars and in a tight left hand turn it struck the north slope of Glen Kinglas near the Rest and be Thankful beauty spot on the A83 west of Ardgartan, Argyll. The second aircraft witnessed the fire ball and took violent evasive action. A high work load coupled with an apparent lack of situation awareness until it was too late in a heavy aircraft put it into a situation that was unrecoverable. Three seconds prior to impact the navigator warned the pilot about the proximity of the ground. Full reheat was applied but it struck the slope, broke up and was destroyed. Both crew were killed although the rocket had fired on the navigator's seat moments prior to impact
09/07/2009 ZE449 Puma HC1 Exercise Grand Prix The helicopter was deployed to Kenya when it was involved in a flying accident. It was airlifted back to Benson and was initially designated as CAT4. However, repairs were not sanctioned and during July 2012 it was transported to Shawbury for storage. This Puma had been captured on the Falkland Islands in 1982 and was previously flown by the Argentine Coast Guard as PA-12. It had been converted to an HC1 at Yeovil
20/07/2009 ZA596 062 Tornado GR4 617 Sqn During a paired take off from Kandahar, Afghanistan the pilot felt a jolt and diagnosed a burner blow out due to cockpit indications. He abandoned take off and, due to the speed and weight of the aircraft lowered the hook. This struck a lip in the runway and bounced over the cable. Being unable to stop, both crew ejected suffering slight injuries. The aircraft was engulfed in flames and was destroyed. A small fuel leak had ignited during the take off run and produced the jolt that was felt by the crew
19/08/2009 ZA709 Chinook HC2 1310 Flt As part of a two ship flight both helicopters had dropped off their troops in the Sangin area of Afghanistan. Shortly after take off ZA709 was struck by either a rocker propelled grenade or small arms fire which started an engine fire. The pilot manoeuvred out of the immediate danger area and landed approximately 1 kilometre away where the aircraft was safely evacuated by the four crew. They were quickly picked up by the other Chinook. Due to the hostile area that the incident occurred in the damaged helicopter was destroyed by a 500lb bomb dropped from a USAF A-10A. This was to prevent it falling into the hands of the Taliban
30/08/2009 ZA673 Chinook HC2 1310 Flt Suffered a very heavy landing in an area 6 miles east of Sangin, Afghanistan causing damage to the undercarriage, nose and front rotor. The four crew and fifteen troops escaped safely and the crew were picked up by another Chinook. Due to the hostile area that the helicopter was in it was destroyed by explosives set by personnel on the ground. This was to prevent it falling into the hands of the Taliban
23/09/2009 ZA446 Tornado GR4 2 Sqn Diverted to Leuchars, Fife while on a sortie from Marham after suffering a non contained titanium fire in the right hand engine which lead to a major fire in the engine bay. Although categorized as CAT3 a rebuilt was not authorized and it was sent to Shawbury for store in 2010
14/11/2009 XS451 ZU-BEX Lightning T5 Thunder City Crashed during display at Overberg Air Force Base, South Africa after apparent hydraulics failure, killing the pilot

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