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Red Arrows pilot Sean Cunningham inquest: Coroner delivers verdict | Red Arrows pilot Sean Cunningham inquest: Coroner delivers verdict |
(35 minutes later) | |
A coroner has described part of an ejection seat that threw a Red Arrows pilot to his death as "entirely useless". | A coroner has described part of an ejection seat that threw a Red Arrows pilot to his death as "entirely useless". |
Flt Lt Sean Cunningham was killed at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire after being accidentally ejected from his Hawk T1. | Flt Lt Sean Cunningham was killed at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire after being accidentally ejected from his Hawk T1. |
The inquest has heard that he was ejected because of a problem with the ejection seat firing handle. | The inquest has heard that he was ejected because of a problem with the ejection seat firing handle. |
Coroner Stuart Fisher has begun to deliver his verdict into the death. | Coroner Stuart Fisher has begun to deliver his verdict into the death. |
The 35-year-old pilot, who was born in South Africa and grew up in Coventry, died on 8 November 2011. | |
The inquest has heard that the ejection seat firing handle had been left in an unsafe position which meant it could accidentally activate the seat. | |
Testing of the Mk.10 Martin-Baker seat showed that the safety pin could be inserted even when the seat was in this unsafe position, giving the impression the seat was safe. | |
Mr Fisher said the safety pin mechanism was "entirely useless". | |
Seven RAF personnel had 19 opportunities to check the ejection seat firing handle, but did not notice it was in the unsafe position. | |
Mr Fisher said the "repeated failure to notice this" could only be due to the check "not being done at all or not done sufficiently carefully by each individual". |