Proof of carbon emissions: Flatulent cows and sheep cause planes to make emergency landings

Animal farts set off emergency alarms on planes

A Singapore Airlines plane was forced to make a bizarre emergency landing after noxious gas from a flock of sheep caused the smoke alarms to go off.

According to The Aviation Herald, the Boeing 747-400 cargo plane, carrying around 2186 sheep, was on its way from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur when the crew received a smoke indication coming from the cargo bay, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Bali.

The Aviation Herald reported that upon landing, emergency personnel inspecting the aircraft failed to "find any trace of fire, heat or smoke."

Instead, it has been claimed that the "smoke indication was identified to be the result of exhaust gasses and manure produced by the sheep."

Singapore Airlines have since released a statement claiming the flatulence may or may not have caused the emergency landing.

Similarly a Korean Airways cargo flight made an emergency mayday landing at Heathrow airport when the fire alarm on board was triggered over the Irish sea.

Gas masks in place, the crew proceeded to investigate. Instead of a blaze, they found that the 390 sweaty cows in cargo had inadvertently set off the alarm.

Cows produce a high level of methane gas - the second most significant heat-trapping emission. This raised humidity levels inside the aircraft, triggering the alarm.

According to the Daily Mail, "the Korean Airways landing at Heathrow is one of 88 mayday calls reported to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last year. A mayday landing is the highest level of emergency and is rarely used except in the most urgent cases."

Gas protection for sheep dogs coming soon? 

Silent Wings: The AS 51 Horsa Glider

The Airspeed 51 Horsa Glider

As part of the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Normandy Landings our Wargames club is re-fighting the Sword Beach Landings of 1944.

This led me to research the history of the British 6th Airbourne and the Horsa Glider:
(Mostly from Wiki)

The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces. It was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th century conqueror of southern Britain.

The German military was a pioneer in the use of airborne operations, conducting several successful operations during the Battle of France in 1940, including the use of glider-borne troops in the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael and Crete. Impressed by the success of Germans airborne operations, the Allied governments decided to form their own airborne formations.This would eventually lead to the creation of two British airborne divisions, as well as a number of smaller units.

Tarrant Rushton Airfield, with gliders lined up

When the equipment for the airborne forces was under development, it was decided  that gliders would be an integral component; used to transport troops and heavy equipment. The first glider to be designed and produced was the General Aircraft Hotspur. Several problems were found with the Hotspur's design, the primary one being that the glider did not carry sufficient troops.

Hotspur glider 

Tactically it was believed that airborne troops should be landed in groups far larger than the eight the Hotspur could transport, and also the number of aircraft required to tow the gliders needed to carry larger groups would be impractical. There were also concerns that the gliders would have to be towed in tandem if used operationally, which would be extremely difficult during nighttime and through cloud formations. So the Hotspur was relegated to training duties, leading to the development of several other types of glider, including a 25-seater assault glider which became the Airspeed Horsa.

Initially it was planned that the Horsa would be used to transport paratroopers who would jump from doors installed on either side of the fuselage, and that the actual landing would be a secondary role; however the idea was soon dropped, and it was decided to simply have the glider land airborne troops. An initial order was placed for 400 of the gliders in February 1941, and it was estimated that Airspeed should be able to complete the order by July 1942.  Enquiries were made into the possibility of a further 400 being produced in India for use by Indian airborne forces, but this was abandoned when it was discovered the required wood would have to be imported into India at a prohibitive cost. Five prototypes were ordered with Fairey Aircraft producing the first two prototypes for flight testing while Airspeed completed the remaining prototypes to be used in equipment and loading tests. The first prototype (DG597) towed by an Armstrong Whitworth Whitle,  took flight on 12 September 1941 with George Errington at the controls.

Inspirational diorama (Great North Roads, Carl Hruska)

Production of the Horsa commenced in early 1942, and by May some 2,345 had been ordered by the Army for use in future airborne operations. The glider was designed from the outset to be built in components with a series of 30 sub-assemblies required to complete the manufacturing process. Manufacturing was intended primarily to use wood-crafting facilities not needed for more urgent aviation production, and as a result production was spread across separate factories, which consequently limited the likely loss in case of German attack. he designer A. H. Tiltman said that the Horsa "went from the drawing board to the air in ten months, which was not too bad considering the drawings had to be made suitable for the furniture trade who were responsible for all production."

The initial 695 gliders were manufactured at Airspeed's factory in Christchurch, Hampshire, with subcontractors producing the remainder. These included Austin Motors and furniture manufacturers. The subcontractors did not have airfields to deliver the gliders from, and sent the sub-assemblies to RAF Maintenance Units for final assembly. 4000 to 5000 Horsas were built in all.

The Horsa Mark I had a wingspan of 88 feet (27 m) and a length of 67 feet (20 m), and when fully loaded weighed 15,250 pounds (6,920 kg).

The Horsa was considered sturdy and very manoeuvrable for a glider. Its design was based on a high-wing cantilever monoplane with wooden wings and a wooden semi mono-coque fuselage. The fuselage was built in three sections bolted together, the front section held the pilot's compartment and main freight loading door, the middle section was accommodation for troops or freight, the rear section supported the tail unit. It had a fixed tricycle landing gear and it was one of the first gliders equipped with a tricycle undercarriage for take off. On operational flights the main gear could be jettisoned and landing was then made on the castoring nose wheel and a sprung skid under the fuselage.

A radio-controlled model, probably as close we'll ever get to seeing a Horsa fly again

The wing carried large "barn door" flaps which, when lowered, made a steep, high rate-of-descent landing possible — allowing the pilots to land in constricted spaces. The pilot's compartment had two side-by-side seats and dual controls. Aft of the pilot's compartment was the freight loading door on the port side. The hinged door could also be used as a loading ramp. The main compartment could accommodate 15 troops on benches along the sides with another access door on the starboard side.

The fuselage joint at the rear end of the main section could be broken on landing to assist in rapid unloading of troops and equipment. Supply containers could also be fitted under the center section of the wing, three on each side.

The later AS 58 Horsa II had a hinged nose section, reinforced floor and double nose wheels to support the extra weight of vehicles. The tow cable was attached to the nose wheel strut, rather than the dual wing points of the Horsa I.

The Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment and 1st Airlanding Brigade began loading trials with the prototypes in March but immediately ran into problems. Staff attempted to fit a jeep into a prototype, only to be told by Airspeed personnel present that to do so would break the glider's loading ramp, as it had only been designed to hold a single motorbike. With this lesson learnt, 1st Airlanding Brigade subsequently began sending samples of all equipment required to go into Horsas to Airspeed, and a number of weeks were spent ascertaining the methods and modifications required to fit the equipment into a Horsa.

I also found this great video footage:  Last flight of the Assault Gliders

Operational history
With up to 30 troop seats, the Horsa was much bigger than the 13-troop American Waco CG-4A (known as the Hadrian by the British), and the 8-troop General Aircraft Hotspur glider which used for training duties only. Instead of troops, the AS 51 could carry a jeep or a 6 pounder anti tank gun.

The Horsa was first used operationally on the night of 19/20 November 1942 in the unsuccessful attack on the German Heavy Water Plant at Rjukan in Norway (Operation Freshman). The two Horsa gliders, each carrying 15 sappers, and one of the Halifax tug aircraft, crashed in Norway due to bad weather. All 23 survivors from the glider crashes were executed on the orders of Hitler, in a flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention which protects POWs from summary execution.

In preparation for further operational deployment, 30 Horsa gliders were air-towed by Halifax bombers from Great Britain to North Africa but three aircraft were lost in transit. On 10 July 1943, 27 surviving Horsas were used in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.

Large numbers (estimated at over 250) were subsequently used in Battle of Normandy; in the British Operation Tonga and American operations. The first units to land in France, during the Battle of Normandy, was a coup de main force carried by 6 Horsas that captured Pegasus Bridge in Operation Deadstick, over the Caen canal, and a further bridge over the River Orne.

Ranville - note "Rommel's Asparagus" - anti glider posts

320 Horsas were used in the first lift and a further 296 Horsas were used in the second lift. Large numbers were also used for Operation Dragoon and Operation Market Garden, both in 1944, and Operation Varsity in March 1945; the final operation for the Horsa when 440 gliders carried soldiers of the 6th Airborne Division across the Rhine.

Horsas at Ranville

In operations, the Horsa was towed by various aircraft: four engined heavy bombers displaced from operational service such as the obsolete Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax, the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley twin-engined bombers, as well as the US Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Dakota (not as often due to the weight of the glider, however in Operation Market Garden, a total of 1,336 C-47s along with 340 Stirlings were employed to tow 1,205 gliders,) and Curtiss C-46 Commando. They were towed with a harness that attached to points on both wings, and also carried an intercom between tug and glider. The glider pilots were usually from the Glider Pilot Regiment, part of the Army Air Corps, although Royal Air Force pilots were used on occasion.

British airborne troops guarding a road crossing, Horsas in background

The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) acquired approximately 400 Horsas in a form of "reverse" Lend-Lease. A small number of Horsa Mk IIs were obtained by the Royal Canadian Air Force for post-Second World War evaluation at CFB Gimli, Manitoba. Three of these survivors were purchased as surplus in the early 1950s and ended up in Matlock, Manitoba where they were eventually scrapped. A small number of Horsas were also evaluated postwar in India. Due to low surplus prices in the UK, many were bought and converted to travel trailers and vacation cottages.

Horsa fuselage being converted into a "lovely little flat"

On 5 June 2004, as part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of D-Day, Prince Charles unveiled a replica Horsa on the site of the first landing at Pegasus Bridge, and talked with Jim Wallwork, the first pilot to land the aircraft on French soil during D-Day.

Replica at Pegasus Bridge

Ten replicas were built for use in the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, mainly for static display and set-dressing, although one Horsa was modified to make a brief "hop" towed behind a Dakota at Deelen, the Netherlands. During the production, seven of the replicas were damaged in a wind storm; the contingent were repaired in time for use in the film. Five of the Horsa "film models" were destroyed during filming with the survivors sold as a lot to John Hawke, aircraft collector in the UK. Another mock-up for close-up work came into the possession of the Ridgeway Military & Aviation Research Group and is stored at Welford, Berkshire.

Variants
AS.51 Horsa I
Production glider with cable attachment points at upper attachment points of main landing gear.
AS.52 Horsa
Bomb-carrying Horsa; project cancelled prior to design/production
AS.53 Horsa
further development of the Horsa not taken up.
AS.58 Horsa II
Development of the Horsa I with hinged nose, to allow direct loading and unloading of equipment, twin nose wheel and cable attachment on nose wheel strut.

Interior

Operators

 Belgium
Belgian Army - One aircraft only.
 Canada
Royal Canadian Air Force
 India
Indian Air Force
 Portugal
Portuguese Air Force
 Turkey
Turkish Air Force
 United Kingdom
Army Air Corps
Glider Pilot Regiment
Royal Air Force
No. 670 Squadron RAF
 United States
United States Army Air Forces

Survivors
An Airspeed Horsa Mark II (KJ351) is preserved at the Museum of Army Flying in Hampshire, England. The Assault Glider Trust is building a replica at RAF Shawbury using templates made from original components found scattered over various European battlefields and using plans supplied by BAE Systems (on the condition that the glider must not be flown).

The Assault Glider Trust  (Clicky for link) Horsa being transported from RAF Shawbury

More info and pics from Chalk Living History

Although there is some difference of opinion (now being researched), the replica at Pegasus Bridge is believed to incorporate a forward fuselage section retrieved from Cholsey, Oxfordshire, which had served as a dwelling for over 50 years. This relic was recovered from Cholsey around 2001 by the Mosquito Aircraft Museum, of London Colney, where it was stored until being transferred to Pegasus Bridge. The airframe is not believed to have seen active service.

Specifications (AS 51)
Data from British Warplanes of World War II

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Capacity: 25 troops (20-25 troops were the "standard" load)
Length: 67 ft 0 in (20.43 m)
Wingspan: 88 ft 0 in (26.83 m)
Height: 19 ft 6 in (5.95 m)
Wing area: 1,104 ft² (102.6 m²)
Empty weight: 8,370 lb (3,804 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,500 lb (7,045 kg)

Performance
Maximum speed: 150 mph on tow; 100 mph gliding (242 km/h / 160 km/h)
Wing loading: 14.0 lb/ft² (68.7 kg/m²)

Korean jet crashes at San Francisco Airport: Pilot error to blame?

Korean jet crashes at San Francisco Airport: Pilot error to blame?

 The plane that crashed at San Francisco's airport was flying "significantly below" its intended speed and its pilot was in training.

Asiana Airlines said the pilot in charge of landing the Boeing 777, Lee Kang-kook, was training for the long-range plane and it was his first flight to that airport with the jet. Asiana Airlines said he had previously flown to San Francisco on different planes and was being assisted by another pilot more experienced with the Boeing 777.

Information collected from the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder indicated that there were no signs of trouble until seven seconds before impact, when the crew tried to accelerate, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference at the airport.

Opinion on possible cause of this crash:

Images FAA

A stall warning in which the cockpit controls begin to shake activated four seconds before impact, and the crew tried to abort the landing and initiate what is known as a "go around" maneuver 1.5 seconds before crashing, Hersman said.


"Air speed was significantly below the target air speed" of 137 knots, she said. The throttle was set at idle as the plane approached the airport and the "engines appear to respond normally" when the crew tried to gain speed in the seconds before the crash, Hersman said.

If a landing cannot be made on the first third of the runway, or the airplane drifts sideways, the pilot should  EXECUTE A GO-AROUND.

Ballooning During Round-out

If you misjudge the rate of sink during a landing and think the airplane is descending faster than it should, there is a tendency to increase the pitch attitude and angle of attack too rapidly. This not only stops the descent, but actually starts the airplane climbing, known as ballooning.

Ballooning can be dangerous because the height above the ground is increasing and the airplane may be rapidly approaching a stalled condition.I suspect the plane balloned, and the tail slammed into the ground as the pilot tried to climb out of the stall/ballooning.

When ballooning is excessive, it is best to EXECUTE A GO-AROUND IMMEDIATELY; and  NOT ATTEMPT TO SALVAGE THE LANDING. 

Power must be applied before the airplane enters a stalled condition. Reuters reports that the stall warning had already sounded, so there was no powering out of the descent.

Two Chinese teenagers died in the incident and more than 180 people were injured, local officials said. In a tragic new twist, the San Francisco Fire Department said that one of the teenagers may have been run over by an emergency vehicle as first responders scrambled to the scene.

"One of the deceased did have injuries consistent with those of having been run over by a vehicle," fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said. "Many agencies were on the field yesterday."

Autopsies to determine the cause of death will be conducted by the San Mateo County coroner's office, officials said.

More than 30 people remained hospitalised late. Eight were listed in critical condition, including two with paralysis from spinal injuries, according to hospital officials.

The charred hulk of the aircraft remained on the airport tarmac as flight operations gradually returned to normal. Three of the four runways were operating by Sunday afternoon.

Hersman said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash. The data recorders corroborated witness accounts and an amateur video, shown by CNN, that indicated the plane came in too low, lifted its nose in an attempt to gain altitude, and then bounced violently along the tarmac after the rear of the aircraft clipped a seawall at the approach to the runway.

Asked whether the information reviewed by the NTSB showed pilot error in the crash, Hersman did not answer directly.

"What I will tell you is that the NTSB conducts very thorough investigations. We will not reach a determination of probable cause in the first few days that we're on an accident scene," she told reporters.

Asiana said mechanical failure did not appear to be a factor in the crash. Hersman confirmed that a part of the airport's instrument-landing system was offline on Saturday as part of a scheduled runway construction project, but cautioned against drawing conclusions from that.

"You do not need instruments to get into the airport," she said, noting that the weather was good at the time of the crash and that the plane had been cleared for a visual approach.

The Asiana flight originated in Shanghai and was flying to San Francisco from Seoul with 291 passengers and 16 crew members on board. Several large groups of Chinese students were among the passengers.


People on the flight said nothing seemed amiss until moments before the plane hit the ground. Pictures taken by survivors showed passengers hurrying out of the wrecked plane, some on evacuation slides. Thick smoke billowed from the fuselage and TV footage showed the aircraft gutted and blackened by fire. Much of its roof was gone.

Interior damage to the plane also was extreme, Hersman said on CNN earlier on Sunday.

"You can see the devastation from the outside of the aircraft, the burn-through, the damage to the external fuselage," she said. "But what you can't see is the damage internally. That is really striking."

The NTSB released photos showing the wrecked interior cabin oxygen masks dangling from the ceiling.

The dead were identified as Ye Meng Yuan and Wang Lin Jia, both 16-year-old girls and described as Chinese nationals who are students, Asiana Airlines said. They had been seated at the rear of the aircraft, according to government officials in Seoul and Asiana, and were found outside the airplane.

Hersman said the first crew of emergency workers to arrive at the scene included 23 people in nine vehicles. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said a total of 225 first responders were involved.

"As chaotic as the site was yesterday, I think a number of miracles occurred to save many more lives," Lee said at the airport news conference. Appearing later at San Francisco General Hospital, he declined to address whether one of the Chinese teenagers may have been run over.

The crash was the first fatal accident involving the Boeing 777, a popular long-range jet that has been in service since 1995. It was the first fatal commercial airline accident in the United States since a regional plane operated by Colgan Air crashed in New York in 2009.

"For now, we acknowledge that there were no problems caused by the 777-200 plane or (its) engines," Yoon Young-doo, the president and CEO of the airline, told reporters on Sunday at the company headquarters on the outskirts of Seoul.

Asiana said passengers included 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans, 64 Americans, three Indians, three Canadians, one French, one Vietnamese and one Japanese citizen.

Asiana, South Korea's junior carrier, has had two other fatal crashes in its 25-year history.

- Reuters

SAAF Mirage F1 and The Border Conflict (Part 3)

SAAF Mirage F1 and The Border Conflict (Part 3)

3 Squadron: Mirage F1CZ and Arthur's Piercy's First Hand Combat Report

3 Squadron was formed in January 1939 at Waterkloof. The squadron was issued with the Hawker Hartbees and Hurricane MK II. September 1939 the squadron was relocated to Port Elizabeth and disbanded. They were then formed again at Waterkloof on 9 September 1940 and issued with Hurricane MK I. October the squadron was involved in East Africa flying both Hurricanes and Gladiator MK II. They fought their way through Somailand and Abasynia, by the end of 1941 had destroyed over 100 Italian aircraft. The squadron was then disbanded and reformed again in December 1942, flying Hurricane 11c and Spitfire V aircraft they flew fighter defence over the port of Aden, coastal patrols were also flown from North Africa. In August 1944 equipped with Spitfire IX the squadron was sent to Italy. 3 Squadron was again disbanded after the second world war.

3 Squadron was reformed at Baragwanath Airport as a part time citizen force unit flying the Harvard in September 1952 and disbanded in 1957

August 1966 3 Squadron was reformed at Waterkloof under the control of 2 Squadron and equipped with Mirage IIIEZ. February 1970 the squadron received squadron colours and received Mirage IIIDZ aircraft.

April 1975 the squadron received the Mirage F1CZ and operated from Waterkloof, with frequent deployments to Namibia during the border war. 

3 Squadron was disbanded on the 30 September 1992 and the Mirage F1CZ aircraft were retired.

Mirage F1CZ

 Mirage F1CZ Air to Air Interceptor Statistics: 

Powerplant	Snecma Atar 09K50 Turbojet 11,090lb thrust
Speed	2 555kph / 1 450mph
Range	1,200 km / 1,800 miles
Seats	1
Length	15 m
Wing Span	8,4 m
Empty Weight	7,400 kg
Max Take Off Weight	14,900 kg
In Service	3 Squadron 1975 to 1992

 Weapons

1000 lb Bomb, 400 kg Bomb, 68mm SNEB Rocket, DEFA 553 30mm Cannon, ELT-555 (ACS) Electonic Warfare Pod, Mk 81 250 lb Bomb, Mk 82 500lb Bomb, R.530 Missile, R.550 Magic Missile, Type 155 Launcher, V3A Kukri, V3B Kukri, V3C Darter

The serial numbers of the 16 Mirage F1CZ aircraft that were delivered to 3 Squadron were from 200 through to 215.

Individual Aircraft History

200	Flew into ground while inspecting wreckage of Mirage F1AZ 246 near Cullinan. Pilot Killed - 15 February 1979
201	Commandant Willie Hartogh was the last pilot before the aircraft was retired. Currently in Port Elizabeth at the SAAF museum.
202	Aircraft retired and on display at SAAF HQ in Pretoria
203	Aircraft named "le Spectre" after receiving the first low visibility colour scheme. Also has the Mig Kill marking. Major Johan Rankin downed Mig 5 October 1982. Currently at SAAf Museum Swartkops
204	First aircraft locally assembled by Atlas Aircraft. On display at SAAf museum Ysterplaat.
205	Aircraft erupted into flames at rear fuselage after landing. pilot survived - 8 February 1985
206	Damaged by air to air missile and overran runway on landing. Impact caused ejection seat to eject. Pilot seriously injured - 26 September 2012. (See below his personal account and link to his website)
207	After retirement aircraft allocated to Stellenbosch University's department of mechanical engineering.
208	During night intercept training a failure caused the pitch pre-servo to run up to full pitch. Pilot Survived - 4 November 1980
209	Undercarriage damaged after hard landing. Pilot survived - 4 July 1984
210	After retirement allocated to University of Pretoria's mechanical engineering department
211	Stored at Waterkloof open storage and later moved to Swartkops and is currently being restored to origional factory paint scheme for display purposes.
212	After retirement was stored at Denel and later allocated to CSIR.
213	Aircraft also has the Mig Kill marking. Major Johan Rankin downed a Mig 6 November 1981. Currently at SAAF museum Ysterplaat.
214	After being retired the aircraft spent some time in Russia being adapted to be fitted with the RD-33 engine. Was then moved to Aerosud and later cut up and scrapped.
215	Hit rising ground near Ohrigstad in bad weather. Pilot survived - 28 December 1987

 Arthur Piercy's account of the accident that left him paralysed:

" I am sure I will never forget the 27th September 1987...South Africa was involved in a "war" with Angola. We , that is 3 Squadron, were deployed at AFB Rundu in the north of Namibia. Our role was Combat Air Patrol. Our troops had been interfered with by the Angolan MIG's and gun ships and we are there to try and stop their interference.

Thankfully since the withdrawal of SA troops from Angola in 1988 there has been no reason for conflict with our neigbours. This is my recollection of the events leading up to the accident.

It was approximately 1500B (local) on 27th September 1987 when all hell broke loose. There had been numerous call-outs previously which proved to be nothing at all, so when the "hot-line" started ringing there was very little reaction from us. However this time the call wasn't to go on cockpit standby like before, but rather a call to scramble immediately.

The letter I was writing went flying as I scrambled to get into the cockpit. In a matter of minutes we were screaming down the runway. I was lucky I was number two in the formation as it was about 45 deg C outside and the take-off was hair-raising. How numbers three, four, five and six got airborne I don't know.

After take-off we remained low level and set heading for the combat zone. It was our intention to remain low level for as long as possible to avoid being detected by the Angolan radars.

The order came to pitch about 10 minutes after take-off and up we soared like homesick angels. We leveled of at about 30 000' and the mission controller sounded like a horse racing commentator with all the instructions he was giving us to intercept the targets. Next came the order to jettison the drop tanks. This command was a little strange for me, because one never throws the tanks away in training so only when I saw a 1 200 litre tank falling away from the lead aircraft did I know this was no training sortie. It was serious. The adrenaline was flowing.

The next thing I saw was a Mig 23 flying through the formation about 300' below us. My first reaction was WOW what a great looking aircraft. This was the first time I had seen one in the flesh so to speak. When he started turning only then did I see the second Mig. I called the engagement and started turning. I was doing Mach 1.3 (about 1600 km per hour) and he was going like hell so the turn was so wide I almost lost sight of him.

This where I get a little frustrated. For 10 years I have trained for this day and the majority of the fight I cannot recall. WHY! Anyway the next thing I remember is this Mig coming head on at me from about my one, two o'clock position. Still turning towards him I remember flicking the trigger safety over to the cannon position. If he was going to fly through my sights I was going to squeeze off a few rounds. Unfortunately for me he got off the first shot.

There was a bright orange flash from his left wing and then this incredibly fast telephone pole came hurtling towards me trailing a solid white smoke trail. What more is that it was cork screwing so I was never sure where it was going.

In all our training we were taught to break towards the missile. This could or should create a tracking problem for the missile and cause it to possibly overshoot.

But faced with reality I found it took a lot of willpower to fly towards something I knew was trying to kill me. However, I kept breaking towards it and I watched it corkscrew over my right wing and disappear behind me. I thought it had missed until I heard a dull thud and felt a light bump on the aircraft. I immediately scanned all the gauges but there was not indication of any damage. When I looked up again the Mig flew over the canopy and disappeared behind me as well.

I immediately informed the leader that I thought I might have been hit and his reaction was: "OK let’s go home." I did not need a second invitation and I rolled the aircraft onto its back and headed for the ground. With hindsight it appeared that the whole fight lasted no more than 60 seconds from the time we pitched until I got the ‘go home’ command.

This is perhaps where I got a fright for the first time. I had not retarded the throttle any and I was rushing at the ground in a vertical dive. When I pulled the stick into my stomach to recover from the dive all that initially happen was the aircraft changed attitude but not direction. The momentum was so great the aircraft carried on descending. Just when I thought that this is the end of me, the aircraft bottomed out just above the trees.

With all this rolling and diving I was separated from my leader and had no idea where he could be. Just then I started getting a radar warning audio in my helmet from my 6 o’clock (from behind). Some radar was looking at me. Was it the anti aircraft batteries or was it the Mig? I radioed to the boss that I thought someone was behind me. His reaction was to tell me get as low as I can, as fast as I can and not to turn to look behind me. My first reaction was - I was so low I was raising a dust cloud like those crazy American Road Runner cartoons. The leader said he could not see any dust trails so I eased the aircraft lower. The radio alt read 50' and the speed approximate 730-740 knots.

At this stage I was beginning to think that I’d over-reacted and that I might not have been hit. Had I got out of the fight too early? The aircraft was performing as if there was nothing wrong with it. No vibrations and no handling difficulties. Oh well tomorrow I'll be back I thought. It was now about five minutes later and halfway home when the first warning light flashed on. EP pump failure. Instinct must have taken over because I thought my first reaction was to call the boss and tell him I have a failure. He pulled out his emergency checklist, and started reading the failure procedures for me. That is when I realised that all the necessary switches had been set. I don't remember doing them.

While he was reading the EP pump failure I got the second failure, a right hand fuel pump failure. This is not too serious under normal operating conditions as the engine can gravity feed. While the boss was reading the fuel pump failure procedure and I was confirming that they were done the following light on the warning panel appeared. A HYD 2 system failure.

This caused a little concern initially as the aircraft's main systems use hydraulic fluid. Undercarriage, flaps, controls, airbrakes and of course wheel brakes. After a quick and careful analysis of the situation I relaxed a little. The HYD 2 system is basically a standby system for the main HYD 1 system. All I had really lost with the HYD 2 failure was the nose-wheel steering. It could have been worse.

By now we were far enough away from the combat zone and the dangers associated with it, so I started to climb to try and conserve fuel.

The next thing that happened is that I was getting an audio warning but no visual warning when I looked at the panel. The hours of simulator training came into action - a pending OIL failure. This concerned me a little more than the rest of them. There are two critical components that use oil. The throttle and the nozzle flaps on the engine.

Flying the aircraft on the emergency throttle (electrically operated) is not easy. The throttle is very slow and unresponsive.

At this time the leader pulled in next to me to inspect for any damage. He reported that there was fuel leaking out the aircraft and that the drag chute was missing. As he said that, the 500 litre warning light came on. The fuel gauges still read 1700 litres so now which one is right. A little more pressure was applied onto little old me.

Landing a perfectly serviceable aircraft on a 7500' runway requires some work. I was going to have to do it on emergency throttle and without a drag chute - a task I felt I could handle.

I planned to land the aircraft short on a new stretch of runway that was being constructed. This would give me an additional 500' to play with on the landing roll. I got her down at the threshold but when I applied the brakes the only thing that happened was the expression on my face changed. I pulled the nose higher so that there would be some form of aerodynamic braking but this did not help. About a 1500' from the end of the runway I applied the emergency hand brake with little effect. The arrester-bed or sandpit at the end of the runway was my next hope of stopping this machine.

The aircraft went through the arrester bed like a hot knife through butter. No braking effect whatsoever. The next 'obstacle' was the security fence.

Where does ones sense of humour come from in at a time like this? I was about to go AWOL (absent without leave) with a multi-million rand aircraft. The board of enquiry is probably going to ask me who authorised this illegal departure from the security area. At the same time I was scared I was going to drown in the river just beyond the fence. My seat has a land survival pack in it and not an inflatable dinghy!!

When I went through the fence I remember putting my hands in front of my face. It was at this precise moment that there was a loud bang. I remember smelling cordite or gunpowder and then everything went black. I felt the rush of wind over my face and the feeling of silk on my cheek. With hindsight I realised that when the ejection seat went off, my helmet must have come off as well and the silk I felt on the cheek was the ejection seat's stabilising parachute and not my personal parachute.

When I regained my senses I was lying in the sand on my right hand side. The first thing I attempted to do was to roll onto my back and when I pushed on the sand with my left arm there was this incredible piercing pain in my arm. The left arm was broken just above the elbow. I then looked down at my legs to see why they had not moved and I could not feel them at all. I realised that the ejection seat was still strapped to my back and thought that this might have something to do with the lack of movement in my legs. I had no idea that the neck was dislocated.

I then started looking around and the first thing I saw was that I was lying directly in front of my aircraft. Here was a F1 Mirage pointing straight at me. The problem wasn't that the aircraft was pointing at me but rather that there was a fire just behind the left air intake. I know there is a fuel tank there but even worse was the fact that the ammo bins (with over a hundred rounds of 30mm ammunition) was just under the fire. If those rounds started going off I was in the line of fire.

When the fire brigade arrived on the scene they naturally came to my aid first. My immediate advice to them was that no one touches me until a doctor pitches up and that they immediately tend to the fire on the aircraft. There is no way that I want to be shot at by my own aircraft.

When the doctors arrived with the ambulance my first concern was they treat my arm for pain, then they can worry about the rest. Even after 2 morphine injections there was still not relief from the pain. I was later told that the adrenaline in the body was so high that the morphine had no effect. 

Just before they pushed me into the back of the ambulance I passed out only to wake up in 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria 10 days later.

It was another seven months before I left the hospital with a C6, C7 fracture of the neck and permanently confined to using a wheelchair..."

See Arthur Piercy's website for more info