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By: minmiester - 20th March 2001 at 11:55

A second RNZAF A-4K Skyhawk has crashed off the Australian coast, 70nm west of Perth. The pilot ejected safely, and was rescued by a chopper from RAAFB Pearce. At the moment, cause is unknown.

MinMiester

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By: DTJ - 20th March 2001 at 13:18 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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He was picked up by a civvy helo.

Day before one had a wirestrike in South Island.

Latest rumours suggest whole fleet will be retired in July

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By: mercurion - 20th March 2001 at 14:47 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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Minnie, you gotta watch where you point your spud gun...

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By: Saadullah Johan - 20th March 2001 at 14:54 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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Always sad when an aircraft falls, to me especially so when it's an A-4 (a Kahu at that).

This is the third including the airshow crash. Oddly, after the decision to retire them (at least for the two more recent losses).

Reminds me of how I crashed a couple of my cars after I decided to sell them!

SJohan.

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By: Geforce - 20th March 2001 at 17:15 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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That can only means that the RNZAF needs new fighters.

Greetings
Geforce

By: Anonymous - 21st March 2001 at 01:08 - Edited 16th October 2019 at 10:05

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Geforce
Nope, this means they may be retired one at a time.
Fortunately this time his ejection seat worked as advertised... last time the pilot went down with his bird. :-(
When the A-4Ks are retired all we will have are aermacchi jet trainers (MB-339Cs). We have lost a lot of pilots recently( I think about 12 in the last 6 months). They have gone to high paying civi jobs, not Aussie AF.

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By: minmiester - 21st March 2001 at 06:25 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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What?

MinMiester

By: Anonymous - 21st March 2001 at 09:58 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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The rescue helicopter does have a civilian operator which is under contract to the RAAF to provide SAR services.

By: Anonymous - 21st March 2001 at 14:07 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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Do you blame them. If you can't fly a jet then leave the service to get paid tree times over.

JW

By: Anonymous - 22nd March 2001 at 01:03 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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Early reports seem to indicate that there were no mechanical problems with the aircraft, and that the accident was caused by pilot error. The remaining skyhawks are allowed to fly again and are back in the exercise which was taking place off the WA coast - which includes a French Navy submarine.

By: Anonymous - 22nd March 2001 at 02:11 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

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A report I read in today's paper suggests that the aircraft stalled and left controlled flight during an exercise involving 4 skyhawks - 2 attacking, 2 defending naval vessels off the coast of WA. The pilot is ok, he has left hospital. Apparently the aircraft stalled during a dog fight, followed by a rapid loss of height from 9,000ft to 5,000 ft, following which the pilot ejected.