[QUOTE=Jimmy the Kid]
If it was a runaway:
I don’t think the flames would be looking like a BBQ, there’s 9000 lb of thrust at max I think.
I don’t think the fire crew would let the ground crew continue to gravity refuel the Gnat nearby!
And a brave man would stand at the back of a RB199 as it ‘ran away’ with or without a fire extinguisher!!!
Ianthefish, just to put the record straight the fire in the photographs is the after effect of the engine run-up and not the event itself. The ground crew had long since vacated the refueling vehicle because the Tornado had jumped it’s chocks and was being driven at the bowser and Gnat. Look at the nosewheel position. It is twisted to 90deg of the direction of travel in an effort to avoid an even bigger incident. Fortunately the engine destructed itself before this could happen. The guys with the extinguisher are dealing with the reidual fire and not the main event.
Surely ‘the event itself’ WAS the engine run-up which lit fuel in the pipe? The Tornado did not ‘jump its chocks’ but was rapidly turned through 90 degrees by the pilot,so the runaway afterburner could not do any damage. The chocks were put in place as soon as it was stopped. The aircraft was not’being driven at the Gnat and bowser’ as it had just been turned round and stopped by the pilot, then chocked.It appears much closer to the bowser and Gnat, as the distance is compressed by my 400mm lens. Incidently, these photos made the front page of the Western Daily Press the following day.
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