![]() Academics & Resources show submenu for “Academics & Resources”Ĭurrent research involves the development of computational algorithms for the prediction of 2D and 3D external flows about aerodynamic bodies.Graduate Program show submenu for “Graduate Program”.Undergraduate Program show submenu for “Undergraduate Program”.Facilities show submenu for “Facilities”. ![]() Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion show submenu for “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion”.Our Community show submenu for “Our Community”.Subject Listing (via MIT Course Catalog Bulletin).Work, Internships, & Extracurricular Activities.Researchers & Postdocs Association (RPA^3).“I was there and that’s where it should stop. He says that media attention embarrassed Royal Navy brass and caused the punishment, but refuses to point fingers. Watson eventually acquired 2,000 hours in Sea Harriers and another 900 in F/A-18s before resigning his commission in 1996. Nonetheless, Watson was reprimanded and given a desk job. Noting that Watson had completed only 75 percent of his training before he had been sent to sea, the board blamed Watson’s inexperience, and his commanders for assigning him an airplane “not fully prepared for the sortie,” a reference to radio problems. In 2007, Britain’s National Archives released a number of Royal Navy files, and the second inquiry report was finally made public. But when the Illustrious returned to port, Watson underwent a second Board of Inquiry. The ship’s crew and owners filed a salvage claim and were awarded some £570,000 ($1.14 million at the time) as compensation for the “rescue.” When Watson returned to the Illustrious, a Board of Inquiry essentially did nothing. When the Alraigo, with the jet atop the containers, docked at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a horde of reporters was on hand. The captain of the Alraigo refused to let the drop-in visitor throw him off schedule: The British government was informed that Watson and the jet would arrive in Tenerife in four days. A delivery van on the ship, en route to a florist shop in Tenerife, suffered a blow as the rear of the Sea Harrier hit the deck. The main gear dropped off the back edge of the container. Watson tried to retract the landing gear. “Well, I thought, in for a penny, in for a pound, and I landed the airplane on the containers.”Īs Sea Harrier ZA 176 settled on the slick containers, it began sliding backward. With no way to communicate with the ship, Watson did a flyby “to get their attention.” As he flew alongside, Watson saw that some cargo containers formed essentially a deck, one similar to a landing pad he had used during training. His plan was to make sure the ship saw him and then eject. At 12 miles, Watson caught sight of the Alraigo. At 50 miles out, running low on fuel, he was down to only a few minutes of flight time. When his radar began showing a target, Watson turned toward it. Knowing that shipping lanes lay off the coast, Watson turned east. “I went through everything I had in the airplane to help me,” he said. When the leader didn’t show, Watson relied on his inertial navigation system to get him back to the Illustrious. Search completed, Watson descended and headed to the point where he was to rejoin the flight leader. They split up when they reached their search area, climbed to assigned altitude, turned on their radar, and swept separate zones. Simulating combat conditions, the two departed under radio silence and with radar off. Watson was paired with a more senior pilot in another Harrier and ordered to find a French aircraft carrier. ![]() Not far away, aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, which was participating in a NATO exercise, 25-year-old Sub-Lieutenant Ian Watson was preparing for his 14th sortie in the Sea Harrier vertical-takeoff-and-landing jet. Thirty years ago, the Spanish container ship Alraigo was steaming off the coast of Portugal on its way to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. On this day 6 June 1983 Sea Harrier makes emergency landing on a freighter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |