Strikemaster crashes near Bathurst.

[corsair67]

This is very sad indeed. Initial reports have indicated that the jet broke up in-flight.

From what I've seen on TV it appears that this Strikemaster was one of the former Singaporean Air Force examples with the day-glo orange wingtip tanks and nose.


Recovery bid for plane crash dead begins
October 06, 2006 08:05am
Article from: AAP.


POLICE and crash investigators have begun their bid to recover the bodies of two men and wreckage of their crashed plane in the NSW central west.

The pair died after their Strikemaster aerobatics aircraft crashed in the Turon State Forest, north of Bathurst, yesterday afternoon.

Former RAF fighter pilot Nick Costin and his passenger were on a joyride when their ex-military jet broke up mid-air.

The crash sparked a four-hectare bushfire, catching the attention of NRMA CareFlight, who had been dispatched by Australian Search and Rescue (AusSAR).

AusSAR had reportedly been contacted after the passenger's family raised the alarm, following his failure to return to the airport.

Mr Costin owns Jet Fighter Flights, which conducts joy flights out of Bathurst, Newcastle and the Blue Mountains, Fairfax newspapers report.

His former flying partner Pete Hanneman could not comment on the details of the crash, but his wife, Heather, described Mr Costin as "very quiet, very pleasant, very charming''.

Jet Fighter Flights is believed to own three of the Strikemaster jet fighter-bombers, which previously belonged to the New Zealand and Singaporean defence forces.

The aircraft can reach speeds of up to 900kph, and Jet Fighter Flights charges $2095 for a 25-minute joy flight featuring simulated weapons release, aerobatics and air combat manoeuvering.

[corsair67]

According to the Australian Register, Nick Costin owns three BAC 167 Strikemasters: VH-AKY and VH-JFZ (both ex-Singaporean MK84), and VH-ONP (ex-RNZAF MK88 NZ6271).

[Calum]

If it did "break up in flight" that's extremely worrying.

[corsair67]

I guess we'll have to wait and see what comes out of the accident report. Several people have been quoted as saying that the tail was found about a kilometre from the crash site.

I wonder if there was any attempt made to eject, or if the seats were even actually activated?

[FlyNavy]

A local Sydney TV channel (10) reported that the Strikemaster was "ex-RNZAF", but the other main commercial TV channels did not mention this fact. Take it with a grain of salt at this point. Local TV news can say anything and not retract incorrect information such as "Air Force helicopters" instead of "Navy helicopters" and the like. Have even heard the F-111 called an "Army aircraft" on TV news. :-)

[aileronroll]

Read today that the bang seats had been deactivated.

[Calum]

for those that haven't realised this is a duplicate thread

rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=Postwar&action=display&thread=1160037830&page=2

SUggest we keep all the diccusion there to make it easy to follow

[Glen T]

Hi Gents,
As Don has mentioned I have had some involvement with E seats in Australia so I should clarify a few points from your discussions. It is always a sad and difficult time when people are lost from an aircraft accident and this instance is no different. My condolences also to the families and associates.

Firstly, in AU&NZ it is the a/c owners decision if he wants live egress systems. But they must provide documentation that the system has been serviced and fitted by competent personnel. This generally would be a manufactures servicing course, or official Maintenance Approval issued by NZCAA (as in my case). When I approached the NZCAA in 1996/7 for the Hunter seat, they did not have rules governing live civilian egress systems because no one had asked, so I wrote a set of rules, submitted them and they published them. I understand that the UK and CASA have no similar rules however. But the NZ one is published on the NZCAA website and can be accessed - and copied by other authorities if they wanted to !!!

I visited Nick Costin at Bankstown one day in mid 1997 and spent several hours discussing with him the possibility of helping him with making his seats live if he required. He had decided that the seats would remain 'cold' and had fitted a slimline Russian sport parachute to the seat while ensuring there was a canopy jettison system active to allow a clear way for inverted aircraft evacuation. I have had no contact with him since.

Also during that time I visited Mr Dave Currie at Archerfield and offered to help with his two seat Hunter. To assist in that matter I met with a CASA officer in the Archerfield offices and discussed live egress systems. They were not against warbird aircraft having live systems, but did require the right personnel to do the job with a recognised qualification. Eventually Dave hired an Amberley based armourer to complete that work, but he did approach me again in 2001 to sign the aircraft seats off using my NZ Maintenance Approval. CASA accepted my qualifications with no problems and as far as I know this aircraft was still flying with a live system until the day of its wheels up landing earlier this year.

Also in 2001 I serviced Geoff Moeskars single seat Hunters system in order for the aircraft to be hired by a private contractor and used for a demonstration to the Navy in Nowra as to the suitability of a fleet of Hunters to replace the RNZAF A4's. Alas though the demonstration did not go ahead, and I believe the carts were removed, and the seat remains 'cold' in that aircraft.

Also the jets at Temora - Canberra and Meteor, have live seats with future upgrades for other aircraft planned.

I donot know of any other aircraft in AU with live systems, while Dave Phillips Hunter ZK-JIL is the only live system in a NZ a/c. Though I am currently working on putting a live system in the F86 for Jerry Yagen at Ardmore's AVSPEC's.

Airflite are the private company in Australia that are commercially servicing ejection seat systems for the RAAF and have been servicing the Macchi 339CB seats for the RNZAF in order to keep the a/c ready for sale. These are serviced every two years as per Martin Baker recommendations.
Seatstar are a private company in the UK that service Warbird aircraft seats with an MB qualification, but there are also other private people with experience but no official qualifications that service and install seats in aircraft in the UK.

My ultimate aim is to work full time on warbird aircraft egress systems where ever that may take me... dreams are still free fortunately !!!

I hope this clarifies a few things from the above thread.
Regards
Glen

[corsair67]

A local Sydney TV channel (10) reported that the Strikemaster was "ex-RNZAF"

Channel Seven news called the jet a "Skymaster" on Saturday evening!

for those that haven't realised this is a duplicate thread

Sorry about that: I posted this story, and then realised later that Don had already started a post about this elsewhere.

[corsair67]

This story is from AAP.

Jet joyflight crash bodies recovered
By Sam Marsden
October 09, 2006.


THE wing of an ex-military jet snapped off before it crashed in rugged terrain, killing two men on a joyflight in central-western New South Wales, investigators say.

The remains of ex-RAF pilot Nick Costin and his 50-year-old passenger, Shane O'Donoghue, were recovered late today from the wreckage strewn through difficult terrain 16km north-east of Bathurst.

A large bushfire raging since the jet went down on Thursday had prevented earlier attempts to retrieve the men's bodies from the Winburndale Nature Reserve.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigators revealed today that the aircraft's right wing had broken off the fuselage in mid-air.

"Team members have been able to access some of the aircraft wreckage during a period of limited access to the accident site over the last two days," the ATSB said.

"During that time, the team located and examined the aircraft's right wing and reported that the wing had separated from the aircraft fuselage in-flight.

"At this stage, the ATSB does not know where in the wreckage trail sequence the wing is located, or the reason for the separation."

A NSW Police spokeswoman said the bodies were found at 3.10pm (AEST) today and were being taken tonight to a morgue for formal identification using either dental records or DNA.

NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman John Lamb said the fire, which burned more than 700ha of bushland, had been contained overnight.

"There is still some danger from falling tree limbs and trees but, otherwise, there is none or very little fire left burning along the access to the vicinity of the crash site," Mr Lamb said.

ATSB investigators also are examining the aircraft's maintenance records.

They intend to issue a preliminary report into the crash in about a month.

The BAC 167 Strikemaster aircraft came down on Thursday afternoon, and paramedics winched to the crash site late that day confirmed Mr Costin and Mr O'Donoghue had died.

Mr O'Donoghue's family, who had bought him the flight as a 50th birthday treat, were waiting for him at Bathurst Airport when the two-seater jet was reported missing.

[corsair67]

As suspected by a few people. The tail apparently came off as well, and that may have well happened after the wing separated.

Does anyone know whether the ejection seats would have made any difference to the survivability of this accident, if they'd been operational?

From The Australian.



Joy flight jet's wing 'fell of in mid-air'
Steve Creedy
November 20, 2006.


AIR safety investigators say the right wing separated from a British Aircraft Corporation 167 Strikemaster jet fighter before it crashed on a 50th birthday joyride in regional NSW last month.

Former RAF engineer and experienced adventure fighter pilot Nick Costin was taking a passenger on a 25-minute joyride on October 5 when the plane crashed in rugged terrain at Mount Horrible in the Turon state forest, near Bathurst. Both men died in the crash.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau interim report released today said that the flight was briefed to include low-level aerobatics followed by a low-level simulated strike mission.

”During the low-level phase of the flight, the aircraft’s right wing separated from the fuselage and the aircraft broke up," the report said.

The aircraft was substantially damaged when it hit the ground and big bushfire caused by the crash destroyed most of the wreckage.

However, investigators were able to find two areas of pre-existing fatigue in a wing attachment lug.

They are now looking at the aircraft’s servicing history as well as unspecified operational issues.