Serial	BS138/411
Line Number
First Flight	06.01.85
Model	Tornado-GR.1
Status	Crashed
Comments	crashed 14.10.99 when the aircraft encountered problems en route to the Spadeadam bombing ranges, and in close proximity to Newcastle Airport airspace, was twice forced to abort the mission, and return to the coast in line with correct procedures before attempting again to set course for Spadeadam. The weather in the area had been worse than what had first been expected and this was a major contribution to the accident. Tornado ZD809 was not fitted with any Ground Proximity Radar which would have indicated to the two man crew Flt Lt's Richard Ashley Wright pilot aged 30 and his navigator Sean Casabayo also aged 30 just how close to the ground they were at the critical moment when ZD809 had to pull a hard left manouver to avoid entering Newcastle Airport airspace again. The pilot had no rudder control for the crucial closing seconds which is a normal occurrence in such a manouver for a few seconds. The pilot did not have seconds to spare and could not recover the aircraft without his rudder control. The Tornado came out of the low cloud and crashed into the ground of a ploughed field near a wood. The two crew sadly did not eject and were killed instantly. Wreckage was blown over a wide area and much of it fell into treetops in the nearby wood. The BOI (Board of Investigation) inquiry concluded that pilot error and poor crew resource management were the primary cause of the accident. However, a ten seater commercial aircraft was seen flying very low in the area just before the Tornado crashed and at least one small piece of wreckage found in the ploughed field some three weeks later and viewed by an ex-Tornado airframe technician via email said it could not have come from a Tornado but must have been from an other aircraft
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