Red Arrows Crash

There is, or at least used to be, one of the ground support on this forum. From what he said back then it's clear they're an incredibly close team, whatever their roles. I'm sure all our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

I went through a period where I'd seen the Red Arrows so many times I got a bit jaded with their work. But now it's been a few years since I was able to get to an airshow, and I think I've grown to appreciate them more -- as both display team and symbol of what dedicated teamwork can achieve -- than I did even when I was a spotty teenager staring at the skies in awe.
 
Andrew_McP said:
There is, or at least used to be, one of the ground support on this forum. From what he said back then it's clear they're an incredibly close team, whatever their roles. I'm sure all our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
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I'm still here.

I've moved on since then, but I still know they are a close knit team as always and will be devastated by this. A few of my friends have been posted to the Reds since I left.

Rest in Peace to the Engineer, we always thought we were invincible.

*Edit*

To clear a few things up, they never did low level aerobatics with the Engineers in the back.

A) Because the Engineers don't wear G suits and B) The Command Eject Lever is turned off when an Engineer is in the back, thus stopping the Pilot also getting ejected if the Engineer made a wrong decision and pulled the handle.

It only ever got turned on if another Pilot got in the back.
 
RIP.

It's a great loss for the Reds. Going to be hard for them over the next few weeks at least.

Really can't believe they were coming out of a loop though. Not with an engineer on board.
 
:( Don't really know what to add, I know people very close to the incident :(
I believe they were on finals and suffered bird strike, but will await confirmation from the proper agencies.

Terrible news :( RIP
 
Mad_Jay said:
The Reds Pilots go to Valley to use the Simulators to practice emergency procedures, it's why 1-5 were there today. I'll understand if you didn't know that, but I'd very much call that essential.
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So no need for an engineer then, as in, non essential... (in your example at least). If the engineer was onboard for maintenance and testing, then that's a different story
 
I don't know how things work in the RAF fast jet world, but in the Army rotary world, engineers/techs find and fix the faults, the pilots ground run then air-test the cabs to ensure they are fixed. Our engineers don't ever go up in the cabs to ensure airworthiness etc.
I can't believe that things would be vastly different to that with the Crabs. Which would lead me to believe it could possibly have been a jolly as a treat/reward.

I may be wrong, and don't like to speculate, that's just my experience.
 
Django x2 said:
So no need for an engineer then, as in, non essential... (in your example at least). If the engineer was onboard for maintenance and testing, then that's a different story
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The passenger may not be essential but you said the MOD had placed a ban on non essential flights, not passengers

Django x2 said:
Well this will be interesting as the MoD placed a ban on non essential flights of aircraft with the MB MK10, and if this was a ferry flight, chances are, that will be argued as non essential.
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IainR said:
I don't know how things work in the RAF fast jet world, but in the Army rotary world, engineers/techs find and fix the faults, the pilots ground run then air-test the cabs to ensure they are fixed. Our engineers don't ever go up in the cabs to ensure airworthiness etc.
I can't believe that things would be vastly different to that with the Crabs. Which would lead me to believe it could possibly have been a jolly as a treat/reward.

I may be wrong, and don't like to speculate, that's just my experience.
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When the Reds are operating from bases that are not their home *RAF Scampton*, if they are not displaying on the way there, they each carry a Blue in the back seat to maintain the aircraft. They're called the Circus.

https://www.raf.mod.uk/display-teams/red-arrows/the-team/#circus
 
Flibster said:
When the Reds are operating from bases that are not their home *RAF Scampton*, if they are not displaying on the way there, they each carry a Blue in the back seat to maintain the aircraft. They're called the Circus.

https://www.raf.mod.uk/display-teams/red-arrows/the-team/#circus
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I remember hearing this before. Just been viewing the web page. Assuming then it might be one of the team listed in the Circus section of that page?
Sad whatever. Fast jets are inherently dangerous but even in my 40s now I still get a massive buzz when the Reds pass over. I saw the US Thunderbirds at RIAT last year, and even though they're louder, they lacked the finesse and flair of the Reds.

RIP to the engineer and a speedy recovery to the pilot.
 
Django x2 said:
So no need for an engineer then, as in, non essential... (in your example at least). If the engineer was onboard for maintenance and testing, then that's a different story
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The Serco Civilian guys at Valley aren't authorised to work on/service the Reds Hawks, only the Valley ones. So they need to send the Circus guys with them wherever they go to maintain and service the jets. Every time a military jet lands, it needs paperwork raising and servicing.

The Circus webpage also hasn't been updated for 2018 yet, that's the 2017 team so it wasn't one of those. (At a guess anyway, the Circus keep their flying quals for the remainder of the tour on the Reds so could be one of the previous seasons Circus guys who went)
 
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