CANOPY OF RED ARROWS JET SMASHES FOLLOWING A BIRD STRIKE AT RHYL AIRSHOW
The RAF Red Arrows display has been cut short at today's Rhyl Air Show due to one of the aircraft suffering a serious bird strike causing damage to the canopy and resulting in an emergency landing at the Hawarden Chester Airport.
The Red Arrows have been forced to cut short their display at Rhyl this afternoon after the canopy of one jet was smashed following a reported bird strike.
The hawk T1 jet flown by Red 6 Squadron Leader Gregor Ogston the Synchro Leader peeled away from the rest of the team and headed back to Hawarden under an emergency 7700 squawk transponder code, meaning there was an emergency.
The incident occurred during the second more dynamic part of the Red Arrows display where Red 6 and Red 7 were performing opposition passes. A number of people heard a "loud pop" just after the aircraft passed each other, after which Red 6 peeled away and performed an emergency landing at the Hawarden Chester Airport.
The remaining jets were then seen "circling" above Rhyl for a considerable amount of time before also returning back to Hawarden.
Just after 4.45 pm Red 6 arrived safely at the Hawarden Airport and as a precaution, Hawarden Airport on-site fire service was in attendance.
Statement from the RAF Red Arrows;
“Thank you to everyone at this weekend’s Rhyl Airshow. We had to finish today’s #RedArrows display a few minutes early after one of our jets suffered a bird strike, damaging the cockpit canopy. This type of incident is not uncommon in aviation and is extremely well-trained for. In this instance, Red 6 and the whole team responded perfectly together, with no further risk to the pilot and aircraft. Happy to report the jet landed safely and the pilot is unhurt. Thank you for all of the well-wishes and many messages of support, asking about the pilot.”
The airshow commentator addressed the crowd saying that;
“Reds 1 through 5 are circling the area at the moment. The reason is to make sure the airfield at Hawarden is completely sanitised and completely dedicated to Red 6.
From what I can hear it sounds as if a bird has impacted its canopy this generally means that the bird has gone through the canopy and completely shattered it, which means that what he's actually hearing is the wind rushing through the canopy.
I can't confirm that so don't start tweeting it, or anything like that cause I don't know, that's my biggest guess. If that's the case it's quite significant for Red 6 because they are listening to air traffic, air traffic can't hear you, which is why 7 is with him and they'll be guided down with him on his wing.
The most important part is that it sounds like it didn't go down the engine."
