News Four Italian airmen missing after two Air Force jets collide in midair

[Fabri91]

Aviation remains a dangerous business.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/201...che_f9408bd3-127a-4f36-90c6-3acfdd3ba539.html

The airmen are still missing...some witnesses claim to have seen parachutes, while others disagree.

 

[Ripley]

This evening I heard on ITA tv news that "they found a parachute", meaning with no pilot attached to it...

 

[Fabri91]

Still no sign of the pilots, even though locator beacons signals of the seats have been received.

http://theaviationist.com/2014/08/20/italian-tornado-mid-air/

As mentioned in the short article, no sign of the parachutes in the picture.

 

[Ghostrider]

Two bodies found. One seat found "unarmed". Does not look good.

 

[Ripley]

3 bodies found.

 

[statickid]

yes, unfortunately I wouldn't expect the collision of two fighter jets to be foreseeable enough to prepare for such a thing.

 

[Ghostrider]

If the seat was "unarmed", does it mean it was safed? That would be a big oversight. AFAIK, the ejection seat pins are pulled before takeoff.

 

[Fabri91]

Exactly: seat not armed = nothing happens when pulling on the big yellow handle. That would indeed be a big oversight...AFAIK it's an item in the taxi/pre-takeoff checklist.

The planes took of from Ghedi AB, near Brescia, where they are parked in small one-space hangars (visited the place last year).

They are actually powered up there and begin taxiing from there, so I suppose that the seats have to be armed only once already under way taxiing, which may cause the oversight.

 

[Urwumpe]

Exactly: seat not armed = nothing happens when pulling on the big yellow handle. That would indeed be a big oversight...AFAIK it's an item in the taxi/pre-takeoff checklist.

FIFY

But still, it leaves the question of being able to eject would have changed something.

 

[Ripley]

3 bodies found.

No, only 2 confirmed found as of now.

 

[Ripley]

3rd body found. One damaged black box found.
The two Tornados were on two different low-level missions.

 

[Fabri91]

Can I ask you where you're taking this information from? I've seen in the past that Italian media, as elsewhere in the world, can be, ehm, "approximative" in aviation-related matters.

 

[Ripley]

Sorry, Italian webpages...

Aeronautica Militare Italiana
ANSA - Tornado crash - two bodies found - First damaged black box found
ANSA - Third body found
ANSA - Fourth (last) body found - second black box still missing
ANSA - Two different missions