Airshow Accident

Shoreham is by the sea, and basically at sea level so QNH/QFE will not be an issue here. I know Andy, who is a top guy and a very experienced display pilot amongst his other experience and have talked display flying with him; the Display Authorisation process here in the UK is very strict - errors are unlikely have been in the planning and preparation.

The separate issue is the display axis crossing a very busy road and the airshow's risk assessment regarding that.
 
ryan1234 said:
Based on my experience on the Airshow circuit, I'd say Airshow pilots are some of the most level headed and professional. I don't know your buddy or his Airshow experience or why he has such an aversion to it. Airshow pilots brief and rehearse every single ounce of control pressure, geometry and energy.
Click to expand...

Clearly not enough rehearsal. Another crash at an airshow in Switzerland today.
 
Why the fark is an airline pilot doing these maneuvers? Sorry, but this sort of thing, for airshow and display purposes, should only be done by current military pilots who routinely day in / day out practice loops, barrel rolls, split Ss, etc. To them it is their day job.

Here you have an ex-fighter pilot, who knows how long ago he did this kinda stuff, a normal Airbus CA for British Airways, just decide that he'd attempt a loop low to the ground? Fail. He screwed that one up pretty bad and killed a lot of people from his mistake.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Why the fark is an airline pilot doing these maneuvers? Sorry, but this sort of thing, for airshow and display purposes, should only be done by current military pilots who routinely day in / day out practice loops, barrel rolls, split Ss, etc. To them it is their day job.

Here you have an ex-fighter pilot, who knows how long ago he did this kinda stuff, a normal Airbus CA for British Airways, just decide that he'd attempt a loop low to the ground? Fail. He screwed that one up pretty bad and killed a lot of people from his mistake.
Click to expand...

He had done this same demo 15 times this airshow season alone. He was probably more current on low altitude acro than every other military pilot in the UK. It was a planned and practiced airshow demo routine executed by someone who had the experience and recency required to do it.

He didn't just wake up on Saturday morning and decide to whip out some impromptu low altitude acro at an airshow.
 
Hacker15e said:
He had done this same demo 15 times this airshow season alone. He was probably more current on low altitude acro than every other military pilot in the UK. It was a planned and practiced airshow demo routine executed by someone who had the experience and recency required to do it.

He didn't just wake up on Saturday morning and decide to whip out some impromptu low altitude acro at an airshow.
Click to expand...

Why do a low altitude acro event? Just because it is legal doesn't make it safe.
 
Hacker15e said:
He had done this same demo 15 times this airshow season alone. He was probably more current on low altitude acro than every other military pilot in the UK. It was a planned and practiced airshow demo routine executed by someone who had the experience and recency required to do it.

He didn't just wake up on Saturday morning and decide to whip out some impromptu low altitude acro at an airshow.
Click to expand...

Ahh ok. Well at the very least there should be an airshow performance box which should allow maneuvering / coming out of a loop so that it doesn't have spectators underneath or down the aircraft's path. Never mind getting into a situation where a crash kills those not even attending the air show.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Ahh ok. Well at the very least there should be an airshow performance box which should allow maneuvering / coming out of a loop so that it doesn't have spectators underneath or down the aircraft's path. Never mind getting into a situation where a crash kills those not even attending the air show.
Click to expand...

There was an acro box that was defined and enforced by the CAA at that show.
 
Seggy said:
Once again, just because it is legal, doesn't make it safe.
Click to expand...

Airshow containers and maneuvers are generally designed to mitigate energy into crowds while still having good axis references for the pilots. This is why we generally don't see aircraft crashing into spectators. Although higher altitude can be used to absorb pilot energy errors better, it has to be weighed with pilot axis reference, spectator views, airspace complications, etc. The "low altitude" structure for aerobatics requires greater precision and as such there is a specific certification mechanisms in place to work down from an initial higher altitude certification. Yes, airshows do carry some risk associated with them, but in general it's not a "dangerous mindset" or "inherently unsafe". Airshows have been going on for a long time, thousands of airshows happen in the world every weekend in the spring/summer/fall. Mistakes happen, and yes, every once in a while people who had little to no control over the situation unfortunately die. The same can be said about soccer stadiums, running of the bulls, car racing, airline travel, etc.
 
ryan1234 said:
Airshow containers and maneuvers are generally designed to mitigate energy into crowds while still having good axis references for the pilots. This is why we generally don't see aircraft crashing into spectators. Although higher altitude can be used to absorb pilot energy errors better, it has to be weighed with pilot axis reference, spectator views, airspace complications, etc. The "low altitude" structure for aerobatics requires greater precision and as such there is a specific certification mechanisms in place to work down from an initial higher altitude certification. Yes, airshows do carry some risk associated with them, but in general it's not a "dangerous mindset" or "inherently unsafe". Airshows have been going on for a long time, thousands of airshows happen in the world every weekend in the spring/summer/fall. Mistakes happen, and yes, every once in a while people who had little to no control over the situation unfortunately die. The same can be said about soccer stadiums, running of the bulls, car racing, airline travel, etc.
Click to expand...

Why was the 'box' over an open road?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top