Taylor Scott

Lieutenant Commander Taylor Humphrey Scott (5 December 1946-22 October 1987) was a Fleet Air Arm pilot and a test pilot for British Aerospace

Scott was born in Newcastle in 1946. He joined the Royal Navy in 1964 and after training, flew SeaVixens. This was followed by tour with the US Navy, includingthe Top Gun course at the Fighter Weapons Schoolat NAS Miramar. Consequently he was posted to HMS Ark Royal in 1974 as an Air Weapons Instructor, flying F-4KPhantoms.

During the development of the Sea Harrier, JohnFarley, (Hawker Siddeley's deputy chief test pilot) asked Fleet Air Arm for "one of your best youngsters off Ark Royal " to be the Project Liaison Officer. As a result, Scott was posted to Dunsfold in 1977. There he quickly impressed John Farley, and was made the leader of the Sea Harrier cockpit development programme. In this programme, the Sea Harrier avionics were flight tested in a modified two seat Hunter.

In 1979 he left the Royal Navy to join British Aerospace (BAe) as aSeaHarrier test pilot. In this role he was responsible for rationalising the Sea Harrier cockpit displays. At the start of the FalklandsWar Scottwasinstrumental inclearingtheAIM-9L Sidewinder foruse from the Sea Harrier.He also volunteered for activeservice, however this was refused. Instead he was placed on temporary recall and tasked with helping to re-form and train 809 NAS. He returned to BAe and in 1983 was appointed Sea Harrier Project Test Pilot. In October 1987 Scott was promoted to Deputy Chief Test Pilot.

On 22 October 1987 Scott was carrying out the final pre-delivery test flight of Harrier GR. 5 ZD325, before handover to the Royal AirForce. A malfunction of the parachute-deployment rocket ejected him from the aircraft at 30,000 ft. His parachute was damaged and he was killed in the fall. The explanation put forward by the inquest was, that when Scott lowered his seat to reduce glare on the instrument panel, themanualoverride (MOR) had been activated by a loose object under the MOR rocket operating rod. In March 1990 a BAe memorandum relating to the cause of this incident was briefly discussed in the House of Commons by Alan Clark.

He married Margaret A. Hayes in 1972and together they had two children.

If there was one person that deserves a medal for the way the Sea Harrier was operated in the Falklands .. it's Taylor, because he made sure that what was in that cockpit was what the naval pilots needed to do their job

— John Farley