Hawk 2010 Display

[btaylo24]

Any one know what happened to the RAF Hawk display pilot this year.
He seems to have been replaced at short notice after an "incident"

?

[Firebird]

The official terminology that the RAF used smacks of the 'breach of flying discipline' offence. Normally that means short-toured into a ground job. They pulled the display season not enough time to get somebody else up to speed. Normally getting that gig will mean a quick promotion to Sqn Ldr, my guess he will now stay a Flt Lt.

As to what exactly he did I don't know any details.

[Stewart Pearson]

The official announcement (from facebook);

"It is with considerable regret that Flt Lt Tom Saunders has been withdrawn from his role as the Hawk solo Display Pilot for the remainder of the Summer display season. This follows an incident which took place recently involving the Hawk Display aircraft. The RAF is aware of how popular the Hawk solo display is and apologises for any disappointment caused. Unfortunately, it is not possible to find a replacement display pilot in time for the remainder of the current season but we are looking at whether it is possible to offer alternatives to the solo Hawk display at the scheduled events instead."

More info;

http://rafhawkdisplay.com/release.html

[MIKE JG]

So is he destined to fly a cargo plane full of rubber dogsh!t out of Hong Kong now??

[btaylo24]

Just been doing some digging and there is a post on pprune that sheds a little more detail on it...
Goto pprune and look in mil forum , under the Hawk Grounded Merged thread.
Seems to have been a flying incident of some sort...

The plot thickens !!

[CelticWarrior]

Rumour has it, and I stress that it's only a rumour which I received fifth hand, is that his removal relates to an alleged high speed taxiing incident where a ground handler was allegedly injured.

[MIKE JG]

Was it a high speed pass on an Admiral's daughter by chance??

[CelticWarrior]

She was only an Admiral's daughter, but her naval base was full of discharged seamen