antarmike Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 An RAF plane crashes onto houses in a Cambridgeshire town, killing two men and a young boy. Both the pilots ejected safely when the two Harrier jump jets collided at about 8,000 ft (2,438 m). One of the planes broke up in midair and fell harmlessly into a field but the other dropped onto the centre of Wisbech, destroying two houses and a bungalow. Several people were injured in the accident - including a mother and her baby who were in one of the semi-detached houses hit by the jet. The planes - which were both from the nearby air force base at Wittering - ran into each other at 0955 BST during a training exercise. The Harrier that hit the town left a crater 15ft (4.6 m) wide and 50 ft (15.2 m) deep on Ramnoth Road, and only narrowly missed two schools and the town's college of further education in adjoining streets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antarmike Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 (edited) An inquiry found the collision happened when the two Harriers were engaged in a mock dogfight. One of the planes "Viffed" to try and force the pursuing Harrier to overtake him. Viffing (vectoring in Forward Flight) involves rotating the vectored thrust jet nozzles forward to slow and lift the Harrier at the same time. But the action of Viffing put the two aircraft on a collision course and before either pilot could take avoiding action they clipped wings. One of the pilots tried to control his plane, but in doing so caused it to plummet towards Wisbech. As a result of the crash, the RAF raised its minimum training height from 5,000 ft (1,524 m) to 8,000 ft (2,438 m). Edited September 20, 2008 by antarmike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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