Aussie ejects from doomed jet

By Nick Butterly
October 26, 2006 04:53pm

AN Australian serving with Britain's RAF safely ejected from his fighter jet seconds before it crashed into the sea off England.

The pilot and the Australian navigator of the Tornado GR4 fighter bomber were forced to bail out during a bombing practice run over the Holbeach range - a stretch of beach in the northern English district of Lincolnshire - on Tuesday.

The RAF has set up a board of inquiry to find out what went wrong.

British media reported that both airmen were "fine" but had been taken to a hospital to check they had not sustained spinal injuries.

The force of ejection from a fighter jet puts huge pressure on the back of the pilot and spinal injuries are not uncommon.

The crewmen were picked up by a Royal Marine Sea King helicopter soon after the aircraft went down.

The wreckage of the jet was being salvaged.

RAF Air Commodore Greg Bagwell was quoted as saying the inquiry would attempt to find out why the crash occurred.

"We will go through the full process to establish the reasons and causes of the crash and we will act upon that," he told the BBC.

"I've spoken to the crew and they're fine."

Holbeach Range is regularly used as a bombing range by RAF Tornados, Harriers and Jaguar aircraft.

The Tornado GR4, which costs about £30 million ($74 million) is built to attack ground targets, flying low at supersonic speeds.

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