Royal Air Force (RAF) Nimrod aircraft are continuing to operate over the Isle of Man utilising a training facility at the Civil Airport at Ronaldsway.

The Celtic League have expressed concern about the aircraft over-flying the Island following criticisms of its safety record and a call by the Oxford deputy assistant coroner, Andrew Walker, for the aircraft to be grounded. Walker was enquiring into a fatal accident involving the aircraft in September 2006. The accident occurred when a well known fault involving the leakage of fuel occurred.

An investigation by the defence research company QinetiQ found that safety features, including fuel tank explosion protection, had been omitted from the Nimrod's design specification despite being requested by the RAF. No safety upgrade has been undertaken since the fatal crash.

When we pressed the Isle of Man Chief Minister, Tony Brown MHK, on the aircraft's safety record last May he assured us it was safe saying;

"I believe that the Ministry of Defence will have taken note of the Coroner's report and that they would not knowingly fly aircraft which are not air worthy".

However, just days after this assurance United Kingdom Defence Minister, Bob Ainsworth MP, admitted that since the 2006 fatal accident, in which 14 men died, aircrew have reported a staggering 300 fuel leakage incidents on the Nimrod.

Earlier this week a Nimrod over-flew Douglas, the main urban conurbation on the Isle of Man, at low altitude.

Ordinarily the Celtic League would log and report over-flights by military aircraft to the RAF Provost unit as the Island is a regulated zone and military air activity in normally proscribed below 2000'. However in this instance the aircraft was almost certainly under the direction of the Isle of Man Air Traffic Control system.

Continuing RAF Nimrod operations over the Isle of Man pose an unacceptable risk which could have tragic consequences.

See Nimrod fuel leak report at:

(voir le site)

MOD military air activity map system at:

(voir le site)

Related articles on Celtic News at:

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

28/11/08

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