RAF Harrier crashed in Afghanistan

[Tintin]

pa.press.net
Thursday, 14 May 2009

A British Harrier jet has crashed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.
The pilot is believed to have suffered only minor injuries when he ejected from the aircraft before it came down at Kandahar airfield.
There were no passengers on board the Harrier and it is believed there were no other casualties.
It is thought that the RAF pilot ejected after the Harrier's undercarriage failed to lower as it came in to land.
The aircraft was very badly damaged in the crash.
An MoD spokesman said: "Emergency services have been called to the scene and are assessing the damage.
"The exact cause of the incident is not yet known.
"However, there is currently no suggestion that the incident was caused by enemy action."


Regards,

[Koen L]

Some spectacular pics here: http://forum.planetalk.net/viewtopic.php?t=7928" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[maurits]

Hi,

According to these pictures it seems that Harrier GR9 ZG478/68 is the one that crashed.

The plane should arrived early May at Kandahar and was in use by 4(AC)sq crew.

Can anyone confirm this?

Regards,

Maurits

[maurits]

Hello,

Here a slidescan of ZG478/68 in better times, on the Cottesmore ramp in July 1999.
It seems that it arrived around or on 7 May at Kandahar after a stop over at Akrotiri,Cyprus together with ZD346/13 and ZD433/45A to replace some colleagues. Unfortunately it crashed a week later....


Maurits