RAF Hawk Jets in Airprox Incidents
NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE
The United Kingdom Air Prox Board (UPAPB) which monitors near misses by aircraft in UK airspace has confirmed that there was a serious incident in airspace over North Wales when two Hawk T1 trainers (from RAF Valley came within seconds of a collision in February this year.
It appears a fatal collision was only avoided by chance.
The same series of reports by the UKAPB also documents another incident (over Angelsey) again involving Hawk trainers from RAF Valley.
The air prox report can be accessed here:
The Celtic League have consistently warned about the dangers posed by the operation of these aircraft which carry out training sorties over North/Mid Wales and the Isle of Man.
A call by the Celtic League for the aircrafts safety systems to be upgraded in line with a fatal accident report some years ago was rejected by the MOD. As a result the aircraft have continued to operate without the safety improvements (see link):
There have been numerous accidents and many deaths of aircrew during the chequered operational life of the Hawk trainer. Almost 25% of all T1 aircraft operated by the RAF have been lost in accidents.
See additional BBC link reporting one of the air prox incidents here:
J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information
06/07/13
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