Coroner criticises manufacturer of Red Arrows ejection seat

In a statement, the father of Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham says his son died doing what he loved, adding that the family are struggling to accept how many opportunities were missed which could have prevented his death.

Flight Lieutenant Cunningham's father Jim Cunningham said:

“Our son Sean died aged 35 doing what he loved which was flying with the Red Arrows. From the age of 17, he had wanted nothing more than to join the Royal Air Force and serve his country, which he did with utmost pride and sense of duty.

“He served a number of tours in Iraq flying Tornados in close air support of coalition forces. Sean’s death was a tragedy which we hope the evidence revealed in this Inquest, will help to avoid in the future.

“We still find it difficult to accept that so many people could have missed, between Sean’s last sortie on Friday and the following Tuesday, what should have been obvious to those having a duty to ensure the safety of the seat, and we remain unconvinced as to that aspect of the Coroner’s finding.

“Nevertheless, we accept that how the seat firing handle came to be in a position where it could be inadvertently activated may never be fully understood.

"We welcome the conclusions of the Coroner which confirm what we knew all along, which is that Sean was blameless and his tragic death was preventable.

"We therefore welcome the Coroner’s recommendations, which we hope and pray will ensure that no family such as ours, has to endure such a pointless and avoidable death."

The manufacturer of the ejector seat says it has learned lessons after the death of a Red Arrows pilot who died after being accidentally ejected from his Hawk T1.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham was killed at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire in November 2011. He did not separate from the ejector seat and his parachute did not deploy because a shackle had jammed.

Martin-Baker says it has 'taken steps to alert all [of its] customers worldwide who use this type of seat of the risk of over tightening the shackle'.

The inquest into the death of a Red Arrows pilot is due to end today.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham from Coventry died at RAF Scampton in November 2011 when he was ejected from his aircraft while it was still on the ground.

Read more: Inquest into the death of Red Arrows pilot Sean Cunningham

An inquest has been told that the Red Arrows have cut back on flying displays after the death of pilot Sean Cunningham.

The 35-year-old from Coventry died at RAF Scampton in November 2011 when he was ejected from his aircraft while it was on the ground.

Group Commander David Bentley. who oversees the aerobatics team, has told a hearing in Lincoln that the reduction in the number of displays was one of a number of changes made after the fatal incident:

""We are doing less. We have more people. We have better oversight and we have better communications."

The coroner is due to deliver his verdict later this week.

An official from the company which made the ejector seat used by Red Arrows pilot Sean Cunningham has told an inquest into his death the firm should have warned the RAF not to over-tighten a vital nut.

The inquest heard that seat manufacturers Martin Baker only warned some of its customers that if a nut was too tight the ejector seat chute was likely to fail.

The RAF was not told.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham from Coventry died when his ejector seat activated on the ground at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire in 2011.

The inquest continues on Thursday.

An inquest has heard the death of a Red Arrows pilot put the spotlight on a shortfall in staffing at their Lincolnshire base.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham died at RAF Scampton in November 2011 when he was ejected from his aircraft while it was on the ground.

Air Commodore George Martin, who was chief air engineer at the time, told Central Lincolnshire Coroner's Court more staff were being brought in around the time but the incident highlighted the need to rectify the shortfall.

An RAF engineer has told an inquest on Tuesday of how a dream posting to the Red Arrows turned into a nightmare after he discovered he was expected to carry out his new job without training.

Chief Technician Norman Briggs, who joined the crack aerobatics team in April 2011 said he had no previous experience of working on Hawk jets used by the Arrows but was left to his own devices after simply being shown round the hangar at their base at RAF Scampton, Lincs.

The inquest at Lincoln is examining the circumstances surrounding the death of Red Arrows' pilot Flt Lt Sean Cunningham, 35, who lost his life in November 2011 after his ejection seat went off while he was on the ground preparing to take off.

He was thrown 300 feet into the air and suffered fatal injuries when he fell back down to earth still strapped in his seat after his parachute failed to open.

The hearing has been told that at the time the ground crew team was up to 30% short of the numbers needed to operate efficiently with many of those arriving on the team straight from their basic training.

Mid Lincolnshire Coroner Stuart Fisher is also looking at what part problems with the ejection seat played in the fatal incident.

Chief Technician Briggs told an inquest that he was appointed to a supervisory role as avionics trade manager with the team but was not given the training he needed to carry out the job.

RAF bosses approved £1million a year extra spending on the Red Arrows within weeks of the death of a pilot from Coventry, an inquest has heard today.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham died when he was ejected from a plane at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

A senior engineer told the inquest that a colleague had identified the squadron was 38 engineers short. A meeting to increase manpower took place in the week after the pilot's death.

The number of metal thefts in the West Midlands fell by almost 30 per cent in 2013.

Last year the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was introduced which makes it illegal for traders to offer cash for scrap being weighed in at their yards. It also made it obligatory for them to have a licence to deal in scrap metal.

In December offers from across the Black Country carried out two weeks of operations tackling traders who were operating illegally on the region's roads.

In two weeks last month the police say they stopped more than 90 scrap metal collectors and found that 27 people did not have a licence.