the unsolved tampering mystery

[clem]

does anyone remember the two tampering incidents ,
one with the undercarriage
and one with the ejection seat.
quite a few members of sixteen were interveiwed but no one was ever brought to book over it , though we all had our suspects the same name came up a number of times but with no proof there was no pack drill after a week the crews declared their confidence in us and it was generally swept under the carpet never to re occur .

[Beef Dobie]

When was that Clem?

[clem]

not sure of the exact dates i know i was dragged in to show a certain sgt snelling how to service an ejection seat (one on a stand from the armoury a schooling one) and asked after i had done a b/f on it by the book of course if i would pass the seat fit for flight to which i replied if all the faults i have pointed out to you were fixed then yes i see no reason why not ( should have smelt a rat ) he then said well what about this and tried to realease the parachute fixing straps(the ring on the strap had been put on the wrong side of the fixing bracket allowing it to slip off of the pip pin) nearly pi**ed myself laughing when he broke his pen trying to slip it off you see the book only calls to check that the straps were tight not that they are fixed to the seat properly not even safety and servicing notes and i believe they have never been amended and i had checked they were tight in the time honoured method, i put my knee against the chute to compress the release springs got hold of the ends of the fixing straps and with all my not inconsiderable bulk ensured they were tight. most of the other boys were dragged in. the incident occurred to paul kerrison when he was doing a crew in on the navs seat if memory serves me correctly i believe it was in 79/80.

[ossie osborne]

You are right Clem it was Nov 80 I was dragged in P&SS to give my account of what I had worked on on that kite because I think I' been working on the seat that day.Never heard the out cme as I was sent back to UK in Dec 80 for my fitters course.


Ossie

[clem]

well ossie from what i can drag out of me befuddled grey cells (whats left of them) the flight crews said that they trusted us and thought that we were safe and it all got swept under the carpet. (glad someone remembers it thought old age was catching up to me)

[ossie osborne]

Yeh clem I thought I was the only one who seemed to remember that ,and wondered if anyone else ever had any idea's on what ever happened.

[PBF Waller]

Being a lowly PBF waller with no technical expertise other than to fill my 16Sqn zippo lighter, I remember this incident fairly well. I believe it was during or just after a station minival had finished and I went to the HAS to collect the crew as usual. They came out white, ash faced and muttering with occasional expletives! The following week there was a meeting in the hangar with the Boss up on the ladders. It was freezing in there but the topic soon got everyones blood boiling, with the revelation that this was no accidental screw-up. No direct evidence was available other than the checking of who had been in the vicinity on both occasions. Being on exercise limited this to a handful known by the HAS chief, so although no definite names came out of it there was an absence of a certain person very quickly. Which hole in the ground he went into, or came from, was never published. Good job too as the damage that could have been done would have had the hospital wards very busy.

[Nelsonpk]

Your almost right Clem, and I remember this EXTREMELY well because I was involved on three unexplained incidents. Once when B/F'ing an aircraft I found the cable from the face screen handle was not connected. If you remember the cable from the seat pan was bifurcated at the top and the face screen cable looped over one on the legs. The face screen loop in this case was not, so pulling the handle would have been the last thing they ever did. On another occasion I had been on keys locking up the HAS's. Next day a crew found a barostatic timer has been set to zero, so at least the seat would work but the chute would only deploy when they hit the ground. In the last incident again when B/F'ing an aircraft I found the undercarriage had been selected up. Myself and Marti Hale were given a right going over by the plods, with particular attention on me as I had been the only one to have access to all three, and I had found two of the faults. I was interviewed 5 times, and cliche or not it was the good cop/bad cop routine - "We know you did it, just getting the evidence together" say's bad cop. "Tell us the story son and things will go a lot better for you" say's good cop. They thought I had been tampering with the kit, then finding the problem to make myself look good. Would have pissed myself laughing had it not been so serious: no fun being on the wrong end of that.
The fourth incident, the seat strap one you referred to Clem, is the reason I think why they let it drop as I hadn't been anywhere near the aircraft or had opportunity to go near it. At the brief that followed they put it down to "servicing error", a catch all for when they haven't got a clue what went off. The whole lot happened over about three weeks in 1980.

[clem]

hi pk i certainly remember the good cop bad cop routine i think in their eyes we were all guilty un til proven innocent, i remeber rightly i followed you on one of those interveiws as i too had been present on two of the incidents although i never actually touched the aircraft, and this plod seemed well p***#ed off when he broke his pen trying to prove that the parachute fixing strap was loose after i had tightened it with vigor on the training seat.