Hunter crash

I believe there was a second crash today on the IOW.

This seems to be happening with alarming regularity, whether the pilots are trying "too hard" to give a great show or what I don't know. 

I see a ban on historic aircraft being called for soon.

What a terrible tragedy. 

G

Not many people are killed these days at or near airshows I see no reason to ban them. Red Bull " whatever their flying between inflatable gates" is called will, I am sure, continue and why not. 

If you look carefully the A27 appeared to be quite solid with traffic. With respect to those who perished, it's a miracle there were no more fatalities. There are also reports saying the pilot was extracted alive from the wreckage which doesn't seem possible from the footage of the crash.

BBC website is saying the pilot is in hospital in a critical condition, according to the police. 

Amazing that he could live through that at all.

Not what a motorist expects on the highway out driving on a Saturday afternoon.   Very tragic.

We had intended to go to this show but Sally had something else to do. We would have been near the pub on the North and quite close to the A27 looking down on the crash site.

It is a tragedy, but as mentioned not very often are the public involved in these crashes. Rules are strengthened all the time. I seem to remember from my childhood a huge loss of life at Farnborough one year, a Vixen IMS. 

My father is an ex-RAF fighter pilot who flew jets in the 1950s and 60s including the Hunter and latter became an RAF accident inspector observes that unfortunately:

Witness videos suggest the loop started too low down with too little speed and recovery height. At the bottom of the loop the dipping of a wing  suggests a "high speed stall" due to  considerable back pressure on the stick (control column). The aircraft sank out of control, hit the ground belly-on, fuel tanks split and fuel ignited from hot engine (around 600 degrees centigrade). Pilot survivable might possibly be due to separation of cockpit from main fuselage and it rolling forward out of fire area. The pilot being strapped securely to his ejector seat would be reasonably restrained from being knocked about. No doubt the Accident Investigation people will be looking very hard at the pilot's recent flight time on the Hunter.

Richard

Richard,

Awful but insightful.

Chris

A local commented that his trajectory was going toward a field a few more metres further on. Was the pilot aware of a problem and trying to get there?

As an ex-RAF pilot I have no doubt that he was trying to crash into a site that was as far away as possible to avoid injury to others and that he would be prepared to sacrifice his own life to  do so!

Richard

Pilots have a very large sense of self preservation...I know.  I very much doubt he was trying to 'crash', irrespective of the likely consequences of where his likely point of impact was going to be.

You are making the assumption that the pilot in question was:

a. Situationally Aware of his poor vertical position during the manoeuvre.

b. Physicaly able to do something about it (ie not incapacitated (GLOC?) or suffering from a loss of flying control).

All aviation related accidents/incidents are the result of a series of linked failings; I suspect this one started 30 seconds before he even attempted the 1/2 Cuban (?) manoevre.

BOI will make interesting reading. Thoughts go out to the victims regardless.

Hi SKDiver,

I am not saying that he was trying to crash or making any assumptions only that as an ex-RAF pilot that if he were in a position where a crash was impossible to avoid that he would try to avoid, as far as he could, any populated area.

We will have to wait until the air accident inspectors do there job but there may have been nothing he could have done.

As you say my thoughts also go out to all the victims.

Regards,

Richard