Crash death Red Arrows passenger did not eject
A RED Arrows pilot ejected to safety seconds before his plane burst into “a ball of flames” and killed his colleague inside, an inquest heard.
RAF aircraft technician Cpl Jonathan Bayliss, 41, was left in the Hawk T1 jet’s rear seat, which cannot be launched from up front.
Pilot Flt Lt David Stark, 38, survived the fireball, sparked when the plane – call sign Red 3 – critically stalled shortly after take-off.
He was likely fatigued and distracted by air traffic control at the time of the March 2018 tragedy, a Ministry of Defence Service Inquiry Panel (SIP) previously found.
At the start of a four-day inquest into Cpl Bayliss’s death, eyewitness Squadron Leader Steve Morris described seeing the flash of an ejector seat leaving the plane.
He recalled: “The next frame your eye could see is a ball of flames. I don’t ever see the seat again.
“The flames get so high, I don’t ever see the parachute.” In 2019 the
SIP found the jet took off from RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales to simulate an engine failure, with the aim of then flying to Lincolnshire’s RAF Scampton.
Flt Lt Stark was described by the panel as an experienced pilot, familiar with the training exercise.
His former instructor Sqn Leader Morris was asked if he had concerns about his abilities and said: “Not any at all.”
Cpl Bayliss had served in Afghanistan and chief technician William Allen said of him at yesterday’s hearing: “If he heard the words ‘eject, eject, eject’, I don’t have any doubts whatsoever that Jon would know [what to do].”
Cpl Bayliss, who was born in Dartford, Kent, died from smoke inhalation and a low-grade head injury.The inquest heard a note attached to his will said: “Oh well, s*** happens. Get on with your lives because I’ve had a really good one.”
The hearing resumes today.