A Red Arrows Hawk jet has reportedly crashed near RAF Valley in Wales with the pilot having ejected.
A statement released by the RAF on twitter said:
“We are aware of an incident today at RAF Valley involving a Hawk aircraft. We are investigating the incident.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Ambulance Service said:
“We were called shortly before 1.30pm this afternoon to reports an aircraft had crashed at RAF Valley in Holyhead. There is an emergency ambulance and a Wales Air Ambulance at the scene.”
More on this as it develops.
Let’s hope the pilots ok
I hope budget cuts didn’t prevent him from having a parachute
They had already increased their annual safety budget one million a year since 2014.
Gosh, how offensive. Making jokes when an airman has died is beyond the pale.
Jonny that is very offensive.
Sounds like both crew ejected, though this has yet to be confirmed from an official source.
Pilot survived, Engineer killed – spokesman. Very sad news.
Condolences to the family.
Sad to hear that this incident involves a fatality. I hope this doesn’t end with a knee jerk reaction to disband the red arrows or even stop them performing as I am sure that is not what the engineer involved would want.
My thoughts are with his/her family
I highly doubt the MOD would choose to disband them, too valuable an asset as ambassadors to the service. It would be unfair to speculate as to cause of this incident at the moment but what I will say is this; as with all military air crashes it is likely the MOD will temporarily suspend the Hawk from flying until it can be concluded that the incident is isolated and not a fleet wide issue (such as mechanical/structural failure) It is likely that the Red Arrows will suspend flight training and therefore their display certification/workup until a time that the MOD guided by the MAAIB (Military Air Accident Investigation Branch) authorize them to resume flying. Right now i’m sure flying or the upcoming display season is the last thing on any member of the team’s minds. My thoughts are with all those involved and affected.
Sadly that stupidity is all too common. Planes sometimes crash. No reason to disband.
I wonder how old the aircraft was? I note that one of her sisters was recently retired after decades of service.
My condolences too to the Families of those involved,regardless of the causes of this incident (obviously will be rigorously investigated ) surely its time to give the Red Arrows a New Aircraft to Fly in.We have the right Aircraft,we have a Factory in need of orders ,how about a contribution from the DTI to help with some finance seeing as the Red Arrows have been Great Ambassador’s for the UK for so long !
Nail on Head. Although they are all front line experienced pilots they are ambassadors for UK PLC.