AN ejector seat manufacturer has admitted breaching health and safety law over the death of a Red Arrows pilot.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham served with 100 Squadron at RAF Leeming, near Bedale, before being selected for the elite display team in 2010.

Flt Lt Cunningham, an experienced flyer and Iraq war veteran, but he died in November the following year, aged 35, when the ejector seat of his Hawk XX177 jet initiated and the parachute on the ejector seat did not deploy during pre-flight checks while on the ground at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire.

John Martin, statutory director of Martin-Baker Aircraft Ltd, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company at Lincoln Crown Court to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

In a statement, Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited 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.

“Martin-Baker Aircraft Company has designed and manufactured ejection seats for 73 years and in that time these ejection seats have been flown by 92 air forces, with over 17,000 seats currently in use. Our ejection seats have saved the lives of 1,050 British Royal Air Force and Navy aircrew, with a further 6,009 aircrew lives saved around the world. Martin-Baker’s priority has and will always be the safety of the aircrew who sit on the Company’s seats. We appreciate that the Health and Safety Executive, during this process, has acknowledged this dedication and track record of saving lives.”

At an inquest into Flt Lt Cunningham’s death in 2014, coroner Stuart Fisher criticised Martin-Baker for failing to warn the RAF about safety issues.

The firm describes itself as the “world’s leading manufacturer of ejection and crashworthy seats”.

Judge Mrs Justice Carr told the court sentencing would be on February 12.