RAF Nimrod puts out Mayday call after 'major fuel leak' - Times Online

The Nimrod was never designed to conduct air-to-air refuelling

Very worrying indeed that this should occur.

Update 9th Nov at 18:02: I see that nearly 48 hours after this story was broken it has now become the top news article on the BBC online news. The Times meanwhile has the following article and also reports the Nimrod could not send out a Mayday message as they could not get air traffic controllers to hear his mayday call.

Text of RAF Incident Report

A. AIR INCIDENT SER KAF/089/07(902/31/07 AND KINLOSS 102/07)

B. NIMROD MR2, XV235

J. DURING AR A FUEL SPRAY WAS OBSERVED IN THE BOMB BAY. THE AIRCRAFT WAS DUE TO IN-FLIGHT REFUEL FROM A TRISTAR. THE JOIN AND INITIAL CONTACT WERE UNEVENTFUL. THE JOIN WAS MADE AT 260KTS AND BOTH AIRCRAFT ACCELERATED TO 270KTS BEFORE THE NIMROD WAS CLEARED ASTERN.

THE AIRCRAFT FUEL LOAD ON CONTACT WAS 32800 LBS. PRIOR TO CONTACT THE 4 TANK REFUEL COCKS WERE OPEN. WHEN CONTACT WAS MADE PRESSURE WAS OBSERVED ON THE ENGINEERS REFUEL PANEL AND BOTH 2 AND 3 TANK REFUEL COCKS WERE OPENED. A SINGLE CONTACT WAS MADE AND THE FUEL REMAINED FLOWING THROUGHOUT. SHORTLY AFTER CONTACT WAS MADE THE ENGINEERS INTERCOM FAILED AND HE HAD TO CHANGE HEADSET LEADS. THE FIRST 5000 LBS OF FUEL WAS OBSERVED ON THE ENGINEERS GAUGES AND CONFIRMED WITH THE TRISTAR CREW. THE CREW THEN REQUESTED THAT THE TRISTAR CREW TURN ON THEIR CARTER PUMP. THERE WAS A SMALL PRESSURE RISE AND THE PRESSURE NEVER EXCEEDED 35 PSI. APPROXIMATELY 20 SECONDS AFTER REQUESTING THE CARTER PUMP ON, THE CREW MEMBER WHO WAS MONITORING THE BOMB BAY THROUGH THE PERISCOPE REPORTED FUEL SPRAYING INTO THE BOMB BAY AND FLUID LYING ON THE BOMB DOORS. THE BOMB BAY PERISCOPE WAS MANNED AS THIS WAS THE FIRST AR FLIGHT THE AIRCRAFT HAD UNDERTAKEN SINCE AN FRS COUPLING CHANGE IN OCT 07. THE CREW MEMBER AND CAPTAIN HAD DISCUSSED THIS PRE FLIGHT AND HAD IDENTIFIED THE AREA OF THE NEW FRS COUPLING.

AN IMMEDIATE BREAKAWAY WAS CARRIED OUT AND THE AIRCRAFT TURNED TOWARDS KANDAHAR AIRFIELD. THE REFUEL COCKS REMAINED OPEN UNTIL PRESSURE HAD DISSIPATED ON THE ENGINEERS PANEL. A MAYDAY WAS DECLARED ON THE ATC FREQUENCY IN USE, THESE CALLS WERE NOT ANSWERED AND THE TRISTAR CREWS RELAYED. A FURTHER CALL WAS MADE DECLARING THE INTENTION TO LAND AT KANDAHAR AIRFIELD. THE AIRCRAFT WAS CLEARED FOR AN UNINTERRUPTED VFR APPROACH AT KANDAHAR THE AIRCRAFT MADE AN UNEVENTFUL LANDING. WHILE EXITING THE RUNWAY A REPORT OF A FUEL SMELL WAS MADE BY THE TAC CREW AND THE AIRCRAFT EVACUATION DRILL WAS CARRIED OUT. ON ENTERING THE BOMB BAY 20 MINUTES AFTER LANDING THE BOMB BAY DOORS WERE OBSERVED TO BE WET WITH FUEL AND THE BOMB BAY HEATING MIXING CHAMBER CLADDING WAS SOAKED WITH FUEL. FUEL WAS ALSO OBSERVED ON THE PIPEWORK ON THE ROOF OF THE BOMB BAY IN THE AREA OF THE MIXING CHAMBER.

K. (1) UNABLE TO REPLICATE REPORTED AIRBORNE OCCURRENCE UTILISING FULL SUITE OF CURRENT GROUND TESTING PROCEDURES.

(2) CONTRIBUTING FACTORS ASSESSED AS MOST LIKELY TO BE ENVIRONMENTAL

CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH PREVAILING AMBIENT AIRBORNE ENVIRONMENT

(3) REFUEL CARRIED OUT THROUGH AAR PROBE ENDEAVOURING TO REPLICATE

REPORTED FLIGHT CONDITIONS. MAX FUEL PRESSURE OF 50 PSI ACHIEVED AND

MAINTAINED FOR ?5 MINUTES ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS. ONE MINOR WEEP

IDENTIFIED FROM COUPLING PREVIOUSLY REPORTED UNDER GROUND OCCURRENCE

REPORT 902/23/07 ON THIS AIRFRAME. WEEP ELIMINATED BY RE-TIGHTENING OF COUPLING. LEAK RATE OF ?1 DRIP PER MINUTE DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR

REPORTED AIRBORNE OCCURRENCE.

L. TF

M. CAT 1.

N. ON COMPLETION OF A FINAL APPLICATION OF GROUND PRESSUR TESTING

DURING DAYLIGHT THERE WERE NO FAULTS/LEAKS APPARENT. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY NITROGEN PURGING OF REFUEL GALLERY. GIVEN THAT COMMON AAR AND GROUND REFUEL GALLERY IS ISOLATED AND SEPARATE FROM MAIN FUEL FEED SYSTEM AND REMAINS UN-PRESSURISED DURING FLIGHT CONDITIONS AIRCRAFT HAS NOW BEEN RELEASED FOR RETURN FERRY FLIGHT UNDER NON-AAR OPERATIONS TO DOB. FUEL SEALS AND PIPES REMAIN UNDISTURBED TO ALLOW POTENTIAL FAULT DIAGNOSIS (BEYOND CURRENT RTI PROCEDURES) TO BE UNDERTAKEN UNDER DIRECTION OF IPT. RECOMMENDATION THAT DETAILED INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS BE UNDERTAKEN TO POSITIVELY DETERMINE THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND CONDITIONS THAT ARE PREVALENT UNDER AAR FLIGHT CONDITIONS IN ORDER TO DEVELOP A MORE REPRESENTATIVE GROUND TESTING PROCEDURE FOR CONDITIONS THAT SEEM TO APPEAR ONLY WHILST AIRBORNE.

RAF Nimrod puts out Mayday call after 'major fuel leak' - Times Online