RAF's latest tanker almost brought down by a DSLR

And it belonged to the pilot!

www.flightglobal.com...

Following an investigation into why an RAF Voyager KC1 went I to a sudden dive, losing almost 4,500ft in 27 seconds, the force of which threw unsecured passengers and crew to the ceiling and which resulted in the grounding of the type, it has been discovered that the pilot wanting to take snaps through the cockpit window was to blame.

This remarkable, and nearly very expensive, snafu was caused by the camera becoming wedged against the sidestick by the pilots seat, which had been moved forward, presumably to get a better view.

I wonder if he uses a Canon, like me?

Oh well, back to flying a Jetstream for a bit, eh captain?

Kinda like when a beer-can rolls under the brake pedal...

When I was active duty, one of those radio calls I hated was hearing that one of my crews dropped something in a cockpit. In the Air Force we stop everything until that thing is found... no matter how small that item is. Incidents like mentioned in the OP, and the fact that our pilots fly upside down and pull all sorts of Gs... even the tiniest washer could end up downing a $40 million fighter in a heartbeat...