DND knew SNOWBIRD seatbelt faulty

[W0X0F]

It seems there was a known problem with the seatbelts in the Tutors. From the Globe and Mail:

Canadian Forces knew Snowbirds had faulty lap belts for 5 years
Pilot died in Montana crash after falling from his seat during show manoeuvre, losing control of his plane
DANIEL LEBLANC
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
August 20, 2007 at 2:00 AM EDT
OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces knew for five years that lap belts on the Snowbirds could unfasten unexpectedly, but did not replace them until a pilot fell out of his restraint system during an upside-down manoeuvre in May, lost control of his plane and died in the crash, military investigators said Monday.

The Snowbirds were grounded after Captain Shawn McCaughey died in the crash of his CT-114 Tutor aircraft at an air show in Montana. A new pilot-restraint system, under development since the problem was identified in 2002, was installed and the planes returned to the skies a month later.

After his buckle became unfastened and he fell out of his seat, Capt. McCaughey's aircraft went into a roller-coaster-like series of moves that saw him zip up into the sky upside-down. Capt. McCaughey struggled to regain control of the plane and get it back into an upright position. He did not have time to eject and died on impact, with his lap belt undone.

Colonel Chris Shelley, who is supervising the investigation into the crash, said the Department of National Defence was aware of “issues with the restraint system” at the time of Capt. McCaughey's death.

“The component has been replaced. The pilots and the ground crew have been trained on its use,” he said.

Capt. McCaughey's father, Ken, said he is relieved to learn that his son's death was not the result of a false manoeuvre on his part. He said it is “sad that the problem that existed for a number of years was not entirely solved,” but harbours no rancour toward the DND.

Mr. McCaughey said he will attend a Snowbird show this weekend that marks the 50th anniversary of his hometown – the city of Candiac, south of Montreal.

“The Snowbirds must continue with their mission that goes back to the 1970s,” he said. “We will definitely go and watch their show.”

Col. Shelley said the belt system used by Capt. McCaughey was installed in 2001 as part of a modernization of the ejection seat. One year later, a Snowbird pilot fell out of his seat after the lap belt unfastened.

The problem, Col. Shelley said, is the point where the seatbelts and the parachute come together as part of the ejection system. In some instances, there can be a “false-locked” situation where the male and female parts of the buckle don't fully come together.

Capt. McCaughey's last flight was a practice run before a performance in Great Falls, Mont. The 31-year-old pilot's Snowbird was going into the Inverted Photo Pass formation, at which point his jet was supposed to be one of three upside-down planes flying next to and above a lead aircraft.

“The aircraft was seen to dip low, waver, and then depart the formation. Still inverted, the aircraft climbed, then subsequently rolled upright,” stated the interim report into the accident that was released Monday.

The report said the aircraft was then brought to a “nearly wings level attitude,” which means that it almost recovered the appropriate flight position.

But at that point, at approximately 225 metres above ground level, the Snowbird “nosed over” and headed toward ground at a 45-degree angle.

“The pilot did not eject and was killed on impact,” the report said.

Col. Shelley said that Capt. McCaughey probably couldn't recover from the lap-belt problem.

“The cockpit is very small. If it was upside down and he fell out of his seatbelt, he could have been in a very awkward position,” he said.

Retired Air Force colonel George Miller, who was the Snowbird leader in 1973 and 1974, said Capt. McCaughey was doomed when his problem occurred while the plane was upside down. “Once that happens, there is no recovery.”

George Macdonald, a retired air force lieutenant-general, said the current fleet of Snowbirds can last another 12 years, although the aircraft purchased from Canadair in the mid-1960s will need some upgrades. New planes could cost about $30-million each.

“The problem within DND is, and always will be, that the priority for an aerobatic demonstration team will never measure up to the priority of a real combat capability,” Mr. Macdonald said.

The Snowbirds are always a hit with crowds. Still, six pilots have died in crashes since 1972. Snowbird Capt. Miles Selby died at the Snowbird training area near Mossbank, Sask., when he and another pilot, Capt. . Mallett, were practising a “co-loop,” in which their two aircraft were supposed to perform mirror-image loops, missing each other by about 10 metres while flying upside down.

Instead, Capt. Selby flew straight at his partner. The two planes collided, and only Capt. Mallett ejected from his plane and survived.

Military flight safety investigators found that the training of 31-year-old Capt. Selby was “deficient” because he was rushed into trying tough stunts before receiving proper demonstration training.

“Organizational pressures, namely the non-availability of the previous solo pilots, led to a tacit acceptance of increased risk during the solo training program, which occurred without the required level of oversight,” a report into the tragedy said earlier this year.



A fix took less than a month, after a needless death. Yet for five years before nothing was done?!

[2milefinal]

That is just SAD!

[skyhigh]

the aircraft is over 40 years old....time for a replacement.

[no name]

the aircraft is over 40 years old....time for a replacement.

And unfortunately, that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

[boeingboy]

Personally - I don't think the aircraft need replacing.

On another note - look at the sh$t that goes on in other cockpits!!
Talk about getting distracted, and in the last 40 secs..........looks like the snowbirds aren't the only ones with lap belt problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfNrD0sBzUw

[GilletteNorth]

The problem, Col. Shelley said, is the point where the seatbelts and the parachute come together as part of the ejection system. In some instances, there can be a “false-locked” situation where the male and female parts of the buckle don't fully come together.

A fail-safe seatbelt would have prevented the accident but then again, lots of equipment have errors in design that can still be used safely despite the fact because people are aware of the fault and compensate in some manner. In this case the pilot did not ensure the male and female portion of the buckle aligned correctly while buckling it up.

In most Snowbird crashes, it has not been the aircraft that caused a crash, it's been the pilot. In this case it's a mixture. It seems unnecessary to replace the entire aircraft when the accident was caused by incorrect usage of a seatbelt?

W0X0F said:

A fix took less than a month, after a needless death. Yet for five years before nothing was done?!

I doubt 'nothing was done' in the 5 years previous to Captain McCaughey's crash. It's unfortunate it occured before the fix was implemented and yes sadly, was probably what increased it's priority. If, as is usual after a crash, the Snowbirds were going to be grounded until the new system was installed, taking only a month to get a fix seems fast. That the fix was 'in development' for 5 years, well, are you really that surprised? Any type of military acquisition or procurement usually goes through about 7 other government departments for approval (seriously). You can guess how long each stage of that process takes. It's no wonder we had to wait over 20 years to get something over 10 years out of date already with our 'new' trainer the CT-155 Hawk. This IS something the Canadian Forces have been trying to address in a revamp or their Good and Services Procurement policies. But in the end it's the soldiers telling the politicians what they want and the politicians not responding in an effective manner.

[Four1oh]

To hear this is so sad, and angering, and far from shocking.

Personally - I don't think the aircraft need replacing.

On another note - look at the sh$t that goes on in other cockpits!!
Talk about getting distracted, and in the last 40 secs..........looks like the snowbirds aren't the only ones with lap belt problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfNrD0sBzUw

They need replacing. I was just at the YXE airshow, and during the start and warm-up, one pilot jumped out of his U/S airplane(I think it was SB1) and into another, then they all taxied out and 2 minutes later Snowbird 5 taxied back in and then HE jumped into another spare to finish the demonstration.
I love watching that team, but they need some new hardware. Aren't they supposed to be 'demonstrating' the canadian airforce? They don't even use those planes anymore except for the snowbirds.

[GilletteNorth]

Aren't they supposed to be 'demonstrating' the canadian airforce?

It's an air demonstration team, not an aircraft demonstration team.

[Hedley]

Never flown a Tudor, but any civilian aircraft I've ever done serious acro in, had double harnesses, so even if one unlatched, you still had the other to hold you in. Having one unlatch is unusual, but not unheard of.

[WJflyer]

The Tutor is a bit more stable and slower than the Hawk, which means the Snowbirds can do things in a Tutor that they can't do in a Hawk. Changing to the Hawk will require significant changes to the team's routine, and will also require that they fly further away from the crowd due to the increased energy of the Hawk. As such, the show, would not be as impressive as the current show is.

[tofo]

My buddy had a single hooker harness for his citabria, is it standard for most aerobatic machines to have two harnesses and is the seconed one only a lap belt?

[donnybrook]

it is an ejection seat...!

[SAR_YQQ]

it is an ejection seat...!

Bingo!

[sky's the limit]

Capt. McCaughey's father, Ken, said he is relieved to learn that his son's death was not the result of a false manoeuvre on his part. He said it is “sad that the problem that existed for a number of years was not entirely solved,” but harbours no rancour toward the DND.

THAT, is lunacy. Plain and simple. If I were in his family there would be a law suit so big the C17's wouldn't cover it. They KNEW for Christsakes, what is the Father missing here??? The DND is negligent beyond words, go see a farking Lawyer....

Wow.

stl

[tiggermoth]

If the DND knew that the seatbelt was faulty maybe something could have been done sooner, thats true. But, consider how many other general aviation aircraft have AD's on the seatbelts. LOTS. (I myself have had the excact same thing happen in an older Citabria except I wasn't upside down, just a bit of negative G.) Do they all get replaced immediately? Not always, but they do get regular inspections. This is not necessarily a case of lax maintenance, maybe the DND just was doing regular inspection on the belts just like us AME's do on many other aircraft, they just had an unfortunate accident.

on another note:

Changing to the Hawk will require significant changes to the team's routine, and will also require that they fly further away from the crowd due to the increased energy of the Hawk. As such, the show, would not be as impressive as the current show is.

The Royal Air Force in England uses Hawks and their show is fantastic, I'm sure our Canadian pilots could do just as good, or better

[shitdisturber]

Capt. McCaughey's father, Ken, said he is relieved to learn that his son's death was not the result of a false manoeuvre on his part. He said it is “sad that the problem that existed for a number of years was not entirely solved,” but harbours no rancour toward the DND.

THAT, is lunacy. Plain and simple. If I were in his family there would be a law suit so big the C17's wouldn't cover it. They KNEW for Christsakes, what is the Father missing here??? The DND is negligent beyond words, go see a farking Lawyer....

Wow.

stl

In the father's own words, "the problem was not entirely solved" that means a fix was attempted and ultimately failed; tragic but it happens in all segments of society. As for your idea that the family sue the military, not going to happen. One of the many rights you surrender when you voluntarily join the military is the right to sue the government for anything up to and including negligence. That's why all those soldiers in Gagetown who were exposed to agent orange or those in the 40's and 50's who went to Nevada to "learn to love the bomb" have no real recourse other than hope for benevolence from the government.

[IFRATC]

Most military jets have standard times to be able to egress out of the aircraft in the event of a fire on the ground.
If I remember correctly (its been a long time since being in the tutor), I believe it is 13 seconds to egress. The quick release mechanism on the harness in the tutor along with all the other connections makes this possible. Although if under distress with a fire and a bit of panic seconds go quickly. A second restraint could compound egress time. I don't think it is plausible.

IFRATC