I fought to control falling plane – court
AN RAF pilot and champion skier has told how 187 passengers “thought they were going to die” as he fought to control a plummeting military plane.
A court heard Flt Lt Nathan Jones had left control of the Voyager aircraft to his copilot to fetch a cup of tea when it nosedived 4,400ft in 29 seconds.
After fracturing his back when he was pinned to the ceiling, Flt Lt Jones, from Colwyn Bay, managed to crawl back to the cockpit and guide the plane to safety.
The 34-year-old ex-Rydal School pupil told the hearing in Bulford, Wiltshire, that he carefully pulled back the controls so he didn’t “snap the wings off”.
The military court heard that a camera belonging to the co-pilot, Flt Lt Andrew Townshend, jammed in the controls, sparking the emergency on the flight from the UK to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.
“It felt like a rumble, a bit of turbulence, and then suddenly I hit the roof,” Flt Lt Jones told the court.
“There had been turbulence throughout the flight, but when you’re pinned to the roof you know it’s not turbulence.
“I then crawled along the ceiling... the doorway into the cockpit is lower than the ceiling. So I had to climb through the opening. Then when I got into the cockpit everything was pitch-black.”
Flt Lt Jones was giving evidence in the trial of Flt Lt Townshend, who is charged with two counts of perjury and making a false record. He admitted negligently performing a duty in relation to causing the camera to collide with the side-stick.
Flt Lt Jones added: “I could see we were going into the sea or something very dark.
“There were a lot of flashing lights in the cockpit, everything was stuck to the ceiling and Flt Lt Townshend was shouting ‘I can’t get the auto-pilot out’.
“The aircraft was violently shaking. I had never experienced anything like that.”
He said he gently pulled back on the controls as he was “aware that if I pulled back hard it would most likely snap the wings off”.
After regaining control they diverted to Incirlik, Turkey.
Flt Lt Jones initially thought it was an auto-pilot malfunction, although the court had heard Flt Lt Townshend was “bored” and “practising taking photographs” when his camera fell.
He claims the camera fell from a shelf to block the controls, but the prosecution alleges the camera had been placed in front of an arm rest and wedged against the joystick. The court also heard he deleted photos he took in the cockpit after the incident.
Flt Lt Jones represented Great Britain in the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando, winning a bronze medal.
The trial continues.