Martin-Baker Fined For Ejection Seat Failure

U.K.-based ejection seat manufacturer Martin-Baker has been fined $1.4 million by a British court after admitting its role in the death of a Royal Air Force Red Arrow Demonstration Team member who accidentally ejected from a team aircraft on the ground. Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham died in a local hospital near RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, on Nov. 8, 2011, when the parachute on his Model 10b seat failed to deploy after he was shot 200 feet in the air from the stationary aircraft. The chute was mis-rigged and the company admitted it failed to warn the Air Force of the possible failure. "This tragic accident was the result of an inadvertent ejection and main parachute deployment failure due to the over-tightening of the drogue shackle bolt," the company said in a statement last November. It conceded it "failed to provide a written warning to the RAF not to over-tighten the drogue shackle bolt." It was charged under the U.K.'s health and safety laws.

Cunningham was doing preflight checks when the ejection seat was inadvertentlytriggered. The accidental ejection was not the fault of the seat. The seats are designed to work from the ground but the overtightened shackle prevented the parachute deployment. It was apparently an issue with that seat in other aircraft. "A significant number of pilots, and also potential passengers, were exposed to the risk of harm over a lengthy period," Mrs. Justice Carr said in her judgment. "This was, in the words of his father, an entirely preventable tragedy." Martin-Baker also agreed to pay court costs of about $700,000. "The company accepts its responsibility for the significant contribution it has made in the death of LieutenantCunningham," company lawyer Richard Matthews said. Martin-Baker tracks ejections in its seats and counts a total of 7,560 lives saved, including 1,050 in the RAF.