A leading ejector seat manufacturer based in Denham – prosecuted after the death of a member of the Red Arrows – has outlined plans for a series of changes to its facility.
Mr Joel Vianello, of Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd, has submitted to Bucks Council a planning application for the company headquarters, in Lower Road, Higher Denham.
Plans detail a new ‘gantry and platform, with access ladder, for air conditioning and ventilation plant and duct works, for upgrade to this service to Building One at the complex’.
A gantry is a bridge-like overhead structure which has a platform supporting equipment such as a crane.
PICTURED: The new gantry and platform.
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Another application by the same person details the ‘formation of an emergency entrance to the site from Middle Road, for the use of fire appliance and emergency vehicles’.
In 2018, Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd admitted failing to ensure the safety of non-employees in connection with the death of South African-born Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham who died after being ejected from his Hawk T1 aircraft while on the ground at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, on November 8, 2011.
The parachute on the Mark 10B ejector seat did not deploy, and the 35-year-old airman fell 200ft before he later died in hospital.
PICTURED: Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham.
The company agreed to pay £550,000 in prosecution costs as a result of the guilty plea.
Although Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd pleaded guilty, it disputed some of the allegations made by the prosecution.
At the time, prosecutor Rex Tedd QC said: “The defendant admits that the breach of duty was a substantial or significant cause of the death of Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham.”
In a statement released after the guilty plea, the company said: “It should be noted that this was an isolated failure relating to the tightening of a nut during maintenance procedures conducted by RAF Aerobatic Team (RAFAT) mechanics.”
The prosecution disputed this, saying: “There was a risk to many pilots over a lengthy period. The defendant’s failure was anything but isolated.
“Each pilot should have complete confidence in the ejector seat.”
However, the court heard how the company had invented the ejector seat and “undoubtedly saved the lives of many pilots”.
The firm was handed a £1.1 million fine, in addition to prosecution costs.
Bucks Council’s planning officers will now decide what becomes of the planning applications.
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