< 6th March 2007 - If it isn?t Raining, it isn?t Training

18th March 2007 - Pen Power, >

< Back to News Archive



7th March 2007

Hawk-Eye Tye – Bedford Cadet goes Fast Jet

For the Royal Navy Tuesday afternoons and Thursdays are all about going to war, with a series of mock battles off the coast of Plymouth. 18-year-old Instructor Cadet Sergeant James Tye from Bedford got the chance to experience these war games for real when he flew in a Hawk aircraft with the Fleet Requirement Air Direction Unit (FRADU) based in Cornwall.

Sgt James Tye Strapped in and ready to go.

James first found out about the flight in December 2006, during the 134 (Bedford) Squadron’s annual awards evening where he was presented with the prestigious squadron ‘Cadet of the Year’ trophy. The adventure commenced on Sunday 4th March 2007, when James, accompanied by Adult Warrant Officer Browne set off for Cornwall aboard a Ryanair flight from Stanstead to Newquay. After an overnight stay at RAF St Mawgan the journey south continued to HMS Seahawk, located at the Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose. 

Day one of the two-day visit was spent touring the various flying units based at HMS Seahawk where James; who is an apprentice helicopter engineer with Patriot Aviation at Cranfield was able to exchange working practices with engineers working on the Navy’s Merlin and Sea King helicopters. He was also shown how the Royal Navy trains its Air Observers utilizing the Jet Stream fixed wing aircraft before being treated to lunch in the Wardroom (Officers Mess) by some of the aircrew students.

Sgt James Tye and Mr Wayne ‘Tin Tin’ Newbury

Day two began with a medical examination to ensure James was fit and well enough to fly in the Hawk before a quick dash to the other side of the airfield to be fitted with all the necessary flying clothing and survival equipment for operations over the sea. Later and in anticipation of his flight James was treated to a behind the scenes tour of the Air Traffic Control centre where he was shown how the different aspects of this facility would be supporting his sortie later that day. He saw how visual control was carried out in the glasshouse at the top of the tower as well as finding out how the radar room operators guide aircraft back from beyond visual range. A quick stop off in the meteorological room revealed that near perfect weather conditions were expected for the sortie off of the southern side of the Cornwall peninsular and with that James was set to go.

The ejector seat safety briefing evoked memories for James of his previous high performance flying experience 12 months earlier when he flew in an RAF Tucano turboprop aircraft. With that in mind he suited himself up, walked out with his pilot, Mr Wayne ‘Tin Tin’ Newbury on to the flight line and climbed aboard his aircraft. Once strapped in and with the canopy closed the engine started and they taxied to the end of runway three-zero ready for the ‘flight of a lifetime’. 

Throttling up and heading down the runway James’s Hawk climbed steadily out of RNAS Culdrose before the pilot banked sharply round to the East and headed for the exercise area. Their first task was to rendezvous with a Falcon jet operated by FR Aviation Ltd, which would act as an enemy aircraft attacking Royal Navy Warships operating in the English Channel. The Falcon is a converted executive jet and flies at height in close formation with the Hawk towards the target, on a given signal the Hawk breaks away and dives to low level mimicking an anti shipping missile, in the warfare room onboard the ship the electronic signal given out by this procedure is very similar to that of an in bound missile, and so providing the ships company with a realistic training environment. Having split from the Falcon and flying towards the targets James later described the experience, “we were going at about 400 knots and 120 feet above the sea flying over small fishing boats on the way to the Navy ships, when we got to the target I tried to take a picture of the ship but moving that fast I didn’t really have time!”

A self portrait of Sgt Tye taken during a steep climb over the Cornish coast

Having completed two attack runs on a group of three warships they climbed to a higher altitude where another Hawk formatted on them for an air-to-air photo opportunity. The other aircraft danced around the outside of James’s plane, flying underneath and rolling over the top in close formation flight. After nearly an hour in the sky the pilot set course for home where he performed a near vertical climb and a number of circuits of the airfield where he showed off different types of approach, including a steep run in before finally bringing the jet to a halt at the end of the runway and taxing back to the flight line.

With the sun setting on end of a perfect day there was time for a cup of tea in the crew room while reflecting on the flight, a chance to thank all of the staff at FRADU for entertaining James before driving back to Newquay and catch the evening flight home to Stanstead. 

Of the visit to HMS Seahawk AWO Browne said “the experience that Sgt Tye has enjoyed here will stay with him for many years to come, a few years ago James’s pilot was in the same position when he was treated to a Hawk flight for his own achievements in the Air Cadets, like Mr Newbury I hope that this kind of experience which is open to a lucky few cadets will inspire James and help him progress in his aviation career.”

View photo gallary from this trip