Bournemouth Red Arrows Association pays tribute to killed pilot

The Red Arrows pilot, aged 34 and from Coventry, was killed in an incident at the team’s home base in Lincolnshire.

It is believed his ejector seat activated while his aircraft was on the ground.

It comes just 11 weeks after Flt Lt Jon Egging lost his life in a crash near Bournemouth Airport following a display at the town’s air festival.

On Tuesday night, at a scheduled meeting of the association, around 50 attendees held a silence in tribute.

Chairman Terry Trevett said: “Shock, I think, is too small a word – people are devastated. So soon after Jon’s memorial service and everything that went on with that, for this to happen was just devastating.

“Like Jon, Sean had been a new member of the team – he was just starting his second year.

“He had been with us on the night before Jon’s tragic death so it was a very poignant evening.

“Now it’s another case of ‘wait and see’ – the inquiry will eventually determine what happened.

“For the time being all I can say is that our thoughts are with his family, his friends and of course especially with his colleagues.

“For the team members, this must be an extremely distressing time.”

Yesterday the MoD said all non-essential flying of aircraft fitted with the type of ejector seat in the Hawk jet had been suspended. It affects Tornado G4 jets and the Tucano training plane, as well as the Hawk.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Pending further investigation and purely as a precautionary measure, all non-essential Royal Air Force flying on aircraft fitted with a similar ejector seat to the Hawk T1 has been temporarily suspended.

“'The safety of our crews remains our paramount concern.”

This is not the first death linked to an ejector seat failure in an RAF aircraft.

Civilian navigator Mike Harland, 44, of Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, died after his seat slipped from an RAF Tornado GR4 while upside down during a test flight above Norfolk in November 2007.

Steve Cook, a photographer from Poole, was in the RAF from 1983 to 1991, maintaining Hawk and Tornado jets.

He said a malfunction could have occurred, either pre-flight or post-flight, with a safety pin in the ejector seat. Another possibility is that the seat’s firing handle could have been activated by mistake, although that was unlikely due to the force needed.

Steve added: “If the incident happened post-flight, there is the possibility that the ejection handle may have been dislodged by violent manoeuvring or a heavy landing. This would not have been enough to fire the seat, but there is the possibility that in trying to refit the safety pin an accidental actuation of the seat may have occurred.”

The Military Aviation Authority is carrying out an investigation into the latest tragedy.

R.I.P Sean Cunningham

IRAQ War veteran Flt Lt Sean Cunningham was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to the UK in 1986 at the age of nine, attending Ernesford Grange School in Coventry and studying electrical and electronic engineering at Nottingham Trent University.

Having joined the RAF in 2000, he flew Tornado GR4s during the Iraq War as part of 617 “The Dambusters”' Squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.

Flt Lt Cunningham joined the Red Arrows in 2010 and was this year promoted to the important Red 5 position in the world-famous aerobatics team.

His father Jim, mother Monika and sister Nicolette said in a statement: “Sean was first and foremost a much-loved son and brother who will be dearly missed by all of his family and his many good friends.

“Since his childhood, Sean had dreamed of flying fast jets in the Royal Air Force.

“Through his hard work and dedication, he achieved that dream and the pinnacle of his career was to fly in the Red Arrows.

“Sean loved his flying and we hope that his life will be an inspiration to all those who share his dreams.

“His fun-loving nature has never failed to put a smile on the faces of those who knew and loved him.

“This is how he will be remembered.”