Another airshow plane crash!
 

Not a good year in the UK..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34027260

Yeah, I've been mentioning it in the 'What are you doing now' thread, but it looks like Hawker Hunter T. Mk VII WV372 has crashed into cars at the traffic lights by Shoreham airfield, killing at least seven and injuring at least fourteen.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5343/9...336b010f_b.jpg

A video of her in happier times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2OZs81Gspc

Here is a video of the impact (there is no sound):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvHp...ature=youtu.be

Initial reports indicated the pilot had been pulled from the wreckage but these reports were quickly pulled indicating that they were incorrect.
Meanwhile, the Daily Fail:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNBJv6KXAAAvNPA.jpg:large

:nope: Gutter press at its best there.

They were one word away from decency :roll:

It's easy to forget how dangerous flying combat aircraft can be since so many skilled pilots do it day in and day out. Condolences to the families
of the pilot and those lost on the ground. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for those injured as well.

Just got this from my cousin:

Apparently the earlier reports about the pilot did seem to have a grain of truth in them as it's been reported that he is in critical condition in hospital.

Tragic event all the way around. My prayers go out for all who were involved in this sad event.

The picture making most of the headlines tomorrow:

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...r_3415985b.jpg

Shocking, absolutely shocking... :nope:

Reminds me of the time the Air Florida flight left Reagan National Airport during a winter storm, wings iced up and it pancaked right on top of cars on the 14th Street bridge, poor folks never knew what hit them, sadly just like this accident.

And the pilot survived the carnage all though he is in a bad way, my thoughts with all those involved in this sad and bad accident.

Now that's a sight that comes straight out of a terrible nightmare :nope:

Life is strange, really.

After the Hawker Hunter crash yesterday, the Sea Vixen was already up, ready to do its display, it flew in salute overhead, and a short while after the Vulcan came through in tribute as well.

The last time we had an airshow crash of this magnitude when spectators or people outside of the airshow were involved was in 1952 at Farnborough when a de Havilland 110, the prototype for the Sea Vixen, broke up during a manoeuvre and crashed into the crowd, killing 29 people. There was a pause in the displays while the runway was cleared, and then an aircraft took off and did displays for the crowd.
That aircraft...a prototype Hawker Hunter.

Bookends in a tragic history. :hmmm:

Would a plane of this vintage have had a ejection seat? Seems like it would, but maybe the aircraft was demilitarized for civilian airshow use.

Of course, I suppose that would look even worse in retrospect if the pilot bails in a vertical direction and parachutes to safety while his errant plane belly-flops in a major motorway. :dead:

The original had a Mk2 Martin Baker, that may have been upgraded since then, but yes they do have ejection seats, not sure if it's a zero/zero though.
Honestly though I think the pilot was trying to bring the nose up to the last second but the sink rate was just too high.

Really there's two things that I expect the AAIB will be looking at, control failure or pilot error. Either the pilot misjudged his available altitude when he commenced his loop, sadly that is easily done, or the aircraft elevators did not work correctly to make the loop tighter. You can see in the video that there was possibly a stall while he was attempting to pull up out of the dive, so it looks like he had full control, just not enough height.

Must have been a terrible few seconds for him, realising that the aircraft wasn't going to climb up out of the dive, and realising where his flightpath was.

Terribly tragic for all involved.

I don't think ejection sets are permitted in a civil aircraft even a demilitarized fighter.
The maintainence would be very cost prohibitive ejection seats and related systems require a lot of routine attention. The rocket motors that power the seats is the biggest issue.

Never mind FAA says that you can have functioning seats in a demilitarized aircraft but they must be fully maintained. So at least in the US you can again though I can see it becoming a cost vs need situation.