MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 28th 2024 - 13:59 UTC

 

 

Eurofighter Typhoon ejection seats modified following a fatal accident

Wednesday, September 22nd 2010 - 07:26 UTC
Full article 13 comments
With the exception of quick reaction forces in Britain and Falklands, alls RAF Typhoons were grounded With the exception of quick reaction forces in Britain and Falklands, alls RAF Typhoons were grounded

Britain's Royal Air Force has modified the ejection seat harnesses on its Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft following a fatal accident in Spain, the Ministry of Defense said Monday.

The RAF grounded all Typhoons deployed outside operational theatres from Wednesday until Monday so that the problem with the seats could be fixed, a spokesman for the ministry said in a statement.

Jets forming part of the RAF's quick reaction force in Britain and in the disputed Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic had already been modified and flights involving them were not affected, he added.

“The safety of our personnel is paramount,” the spokesman said. “Sufficient modifications have now been undertaken and non-operational Typhoon flights have resumed.”

The Royal Air Force has a fleet of 54 Typhoons.

A Saudi air force pilot was killed during a training flight in August with a Spanish instructor when their Eurofighter Typhoon crashed for an unknown reason. The instructor managed to eject and was only slightly hurt.

Saudi Arabia has its pilots trained to fly the aircraft by the Spanish air force under a bilateral agreement with Madrid.

Germany grounded all 55 of its Eurofighters indefinitely from Wednesday last week because of the same ejector seat problem, saying that “in certain circumstances the ejector seat does not operate faultlessly.”

The Typhoon, a multi-purpose twin-engine fighter jet introduced in 2003, is built by a consortium of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), Britain's BAE Systems and Alenia/Finmeccanica of Italy. It also serves with the Italian air force.

 

Categories: Politics, Falkland Islands.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • Pheel

    BAE/EADS, don´t forget to improve the “foggy-weather-device”, please.

    Sep 23rd, 2010 - 07:08 pm 0
  • stick up your junta

    Its a pity the Argies didnt have the same fault on their ejector seats back in 82,seeing they used them so much

    Sep 23rd, 2010 - 09:54 pm 0
  • Pheel

    Stick to your dick:
    So much used, after delivering the cargo inside the presumed second best Nato Fleet.
    It´s a pity that some british fuses of that stuff didn´t work.
    Lord xxxby (you can google it, another flematic lordy) had a famous statement of how lucky GB has been on the fuses issue.
    We should have bought them in a reliable supplier.
    The fisheries would had received a lot of fresh food.

    Sep 23rd, 2010 - 10:34 pm 0
Read all comments

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!