Loss of control Accident Hawker Hurricane Mk IV OO-HUR, (2024)

FAQs

What is an aircraft accident due to loss of control? ›

LOC-I refers to accidents in which the flight crew was unable to maintain control of the aircraft in flight, resulting in an unrecoverable deviation from the intended flight path.

The Hawker Hurricane played a vital role in the Battle of Britain. There are only 12 airworthy Hurricanes left in the world, and the BBMF proudly operates two of these historically important aircraft: Hurricane LF363 (Mk IIC) - believed to be the last Hurricane to enter service with the RAF.

But the performance of a Hurricane, regardless of Mach or what it was carrying, always was a fair bit shorter than a Spitfire or a 109 in out and out speed.

Hurricanes were credited with shooting down more than 1,500 Luftwaffe aircraft in the critical first year of the war, a total barely exceeded by all other British aircraft combined.

A Loss of Control (LOC) accident involves an unintended departure of an aircraft from controlled flight. LOC can happen when the aircraft enters a flight regime that is outside its normal flight envelope and quickly develops into a stall or spin. It can introduce an element of surprise for the pilot.

Causes. Loss of control causes aircraft to depart from normal flight and possibly reach altitudes or encounter situations from which it can be difficult or impossible to recover, such as a stall or a spin.

Despite over 14,000 Hurricanes being constructed, only around 16 remain in an airworthy condition today. Part of the reason for this is the sheer number of man hours required to reconstruct a Hurricane; approximately double what would be required to get a Spitfire back in the air.

One of the most prolific fighters aircraft of WWII which had a high survivability rate due to its robust airframe construction.

Landing and take-off tests corrected to wind of 5 m.p.h. Take-off run (flaps shut) 265 yards. Time11.5 secs.

The Mosquito reached 408 mph in level flight, which was faster than the operational version of the Spitfire at the time, whose top speed was 370 mph. After this demonstration flight, the airplane almost failed its acceptance for the Royal Air Force.

Could a Hurricane out turn a Spitfire? ›

As a fighter, the Hurricane had some drawbacks. It was slightly slower than both the Spitfire I and II and the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, and the thicker wing profiles compromised acceleration; but it could out-turn both of them.

The Bf 109 was arguably the best fighter in the world in 1940. It was faster than the Spitfire at high altitude, could dive more rapidly and carried a more effective armament of two cannon and two machine guns.

On the 1st December 1941 his Reserve Air Regiment was re-equipped with Hurricanes. “It was a piece of junk rather than a fighter!” said Klimenko¹ “A MiG might be clumsy at low altitude, but when flying higher I felt like a king. In comparison the Hurricane was slow and unwieldy – its wings were too thick.”

Serving in almost every theatre of war, the aircraft would fulfil a variety of roles. One of the more successful variants was the Hawker Hurricane Mk IID 'Tank Buster', which earnt the nickname 'Flying Can Openers'.

Loss of control in flight is loss of aircraft control while, or deviation from intended flightpath, in flight. Loss of control inflight is an extreme manifestation of a deviation from intended flight path. LOC-I accidents often result from failure to prevent or recover from stall and upset.

Loss of Control In-flight or loc-i, is when a pilot (or pilots) lose control of the aircraft and fail to recover. LOC-I is the biggest cause of fatal accidents in commercial aviation and involves multiple “interferences” such as stalls, weather and mechanical failures. In most cases it happens fast.

The largest cause of fatal accidents in general aviation is the loss of control in-flight. Other significant causes of fatal accidents include powerplant failure, unintended flight into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), and Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT).