“I seem to remember an incident with a Harrier where the pilot departed but left the seat in the aircraft?
Was in an old copy of `Aircraft` magazine. The aircraft was flying on autopilot with no occupant. I don’t know if any reason was found.
I believe jets were scrambled to intercept but the plane eventually crashed.”
I think that you are describing the incident to Maj Schaffner USAF on 8th Sept 1970 in Lightning F.6 XS894.
Edit – not the following Lightning – Creaking Door has it with ZD325 – Ross
To quote W/C Spry
“The wreckage was located nearly 2 months later with surprisingly little damage. The canopy was attached and closed, and there was no sign of the pilot. The aircraft appeared to have struck the sea at a low speed, planed the surface and come to rest comparitively slowly. The ejection seat handle had been pulled to the full extent allowed by the interruptor link in the main gun sear. (The interruptor link ensures that the seat does not fire unless the canopy has gone). The canopy gun sear had been withdrawn but the cartridge had not been struck with sufficient force to fire it (during servicing the firing unit had been incorrectly seated because of damaged screw heads). The canopy had been opened normally, the QRB was undone, as was the PEC, and the PSP lanyard had been released from the life jacket.
It was concluded that the difficult task, carried out in rushed circumstances, combined with a lack of training in this profile, led to the pilot failing to monitor his height while slowing down. He had inadvertently flown into the sea but had attempted to recover the situation by selecting reheat; this was ineffective with the tail skimming the water. He attempted to eject, but this was unsuccessful due to the canopy failing to jettison. He then manually abandoned the aircraft, but was never found. He was, therefore, presumed to have drowned during or after his escape.”
Regards
Ross
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