Red Arrow Pilot Dies After Jet Crash

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16053735


A Red Arrow pilot, named as Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, has been killed after his jet crashed in Bournemouth.




Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, 33, died after his Red Arrow jet crashed

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the 33-year-old from Rutland was killed when his Hawk aircraft crashed just south of Bournemouth Airport this afternoon.
The MoD confirmed that it was investigating the cause of the accident.
Group Captain Simon Blake, the Commandant of the RAF's Central Flying School, said Flight Lieutenant Egging was a "gifted aviator" who flew in the "most demanding position" of the formation - on the right hand outside of the diamond.
"A true team player, his good nature and constant smile will be sorely missed by all.
"In such a close knit team, this tragedy will be keenly felt by his fellow team members, the Reds and all of the engineering and support staff, the Blues," he added.
The display team had taken part in Bournemouth's annual air festival shortly before the crash.
Wayne Kent, the assistant manager of a local pub, said that eyewitnesses reported the plane seemed to be guided away from houses in the village of Throop, and from people walking near the riverbank, before it crashed.

Shaun Spencer-Perkins saw the crash and said he heard "a whoosh sound, looked around and saw a Red Arrow flying below the tree line".
"It was flying incredibly fast, then it hit one side of the embankment of the river," he told Sky News.
"I saw part of the plane on our side of the embankment, strewn over a field.
"The rest was on the opposite side of the river.
"The crash site was quite large and there was a smell of aviation fuel."
Laura Goodwin also saw the crash, and said that shortly afterwards, she saw a police helicopter and a coastguard helicopter in the air.

She had been watching the display, and said she saw the Red Arrows coming in to land.
"One went one way, one went the other and then did not come back up," she told Sky News.
"Within seconds you could tell something was not right as there were ambulances there."

How strange, I hope that this is true.....

Posted by: Knikitta Runes on August 20, 2011 3:05 PMI live in Lincoln (home of the Red Arrows) and our local radio station just said that the Pilot was pulled from a river alive after he/she ejected from the plane.

I confess, I didn't look at the comments, Lily - I do hope they are correct. There do seem to be one or two saying the pilot managed to eject, and I notice Sky hasn't added to the story.

Let's hope that the pilot did safely eject, Bonny. Maybe it will become clearer very soon?

Sadly, they could all be correct - that the pilot did eject, but did not survive. Still no change on the story that I can see.

The Canopy appears to have split from the fuselage. It also appears that the pilot steered it away passer bys and from houses.

RAF...confirms pilot has died


http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/red-arrow-crashes-20082011

Thank you mf. That is so terribly sad.

So sad

Sadly, that sounds perfectly logical, HB, and most likely the reason for the confusion.

Definitely sounds logical. Poor guy and his family.

Thank you HB.

This is why hopes were raised;

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/tragic-red-arrows-pilot-hailed-041419849.html

Red Arrow pilot 'found in river'

A man has spoken of the moment rescuers searching for a Red Arrows pilot after his plane crashed found him dead in a river.
Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging's Hawk T1 aircraft plunged to the ground near Bournemouth Airport in Dorset, partly ending up it in the River Stour after completing a display over the town's seafront.
He was discovered with his parachute open but apparently not in his ejection seat.
John Dugdale did not hear the crash but was soon at the scene when a rescue helicopter started hovering above.
"Somebody ran past me saying 'one of the reds has gone down'. I just thought this is not happening," Mr Dugdale said.
"I ran over and there was a small group of people and you could see part of the wreckage of the aircraft on the riverbank.
"At least one of the group had entered the water and was looking in the river for the pilot."
Tributes have been paid to Flt Lt Egging, who is said to have guided the plane away from houses and people before it smashed into a field and came to a standstill with its nose in the river near the village of Throop.
His wife, Dr Emma Egging, said she was "the proudest I've ever been" after watching his performance in the skies above the seaside resort.
Colleagues described the 33-year-old as a "true team player" and "gifted aviator".

Awful that his wife saw it happen.

Heartbreaking, Bonny. Apparently they had not been married very long.