Seven dead after Hawker Hunter hits cars

iamtheoneneo · 23 Aug 2015 at 07:59

Ceryndrion said:
First of all, I have to mourn the loss of those who lost their lives in this tragic incident. I spent many a summer very close to that spot, while my step-mother was a teacher at the nearby Lansing College. Those traffic lights in particular, I remember well.

I have seen a lot of negative comments, both here, and in other places, mostly comments about how 'amateur' pilots should not be allowed to fly out-of-date military hardware. Well, for the record, Andy Hill, the pilot in this case, was a formation instructor, light aircraft test pilot, former RAF Harrier GR7 Instructor as well as a qualified instructor for the Jet Provost. He is also a British Airways Captain (A380/B757/B767), and has over 12,000 flying hours. Hardly an amateur.

Yes, airshows are inherently dangerous, and accidents do happen, but the organisers do whatever they can to minimise the risk involved, both to the pilots, the spectators, and the general public.

As for those who say that the aircraft shouldn't have been flying still, well, just remember that XH558, is only a few years younger.

I would just ignore it. They are all armchair pilots that haven't flown a single aircraft in their lives.

cheesyboy · 23 Aug 2015 at 08:01

Terrible accident. Really sad to see, and the footage just takes your breath away. Awful for the families of those affected, and those who witnessed at close hand

adam cool dude said:
Today's society of filming everything (In relation to the aftermath video) instead of trying to help those that might still be alive sickens me .

R.I.P to all those that lost their lives.

Some said the same about the camera crews at Hillsborough or Bradford. That footage was invaluable to the respective investigations.

MadMouse101 · 23 Aug 2015 at 08:19

R.I.P.

nutcase · 23 Aug 2015 at 08:33

I have to wonder if perhaps he was trying to aim for an empty patch of the A27 once he realised he was not going to be able to recover? Traffic lights on red would have mean't a clear side of the carriageway. Could be utterly wrong though and probably shouldn't be speculating.

Not particularly surprised the pilot survived though as it's been stated the wings and everything behind detached, so that's all the flammable part.

Really hoping there's no further loss of life

mushtafa · 23 Aug 2015 at 09:04

I heard this morning that the pilot has lost his life. Can't find anything to confirm it though. Local news says the A27 will stay closed today

thenewoc · 23 Aug 2015 at 09:05

JBuk said:
Isn't the exclusion zone for non participating aircraft? Ie no other planes should fly there under the set altitude but it doesn't stop display planes going outside this area?

Looking on Google maps the crash was just outside the airport so possibly within the shows boundary for manoeuvres , then again the pilot could have started a the manouvre within his boundary then exceeded it after losing control

No idea of the manoeuvre was unplanned, just speculation isn't it?

Yes it relates to non participating aircraft, just an indication of the area involved. I doubt the display planes would be venturing outside that zone though.

Being so close to the coast, I don't see why the zone and display wasn't carried out over sea, with spectators on the sea front.

thenewoc · 23 Aug 2015 at 09:14

braveheart said:
Accident do happen also there are lots of planes f!ying over our heads.. Too many and can happen if accident then hit road or houses... Terrible one on a27.. Like one plane left JFK then crashed into the houses in 2001.. Too many planes over the sky.. You can see on flightrader24..

I think the distinction here is that most are doing routine flights which people expect to be flying over head. These air shows with stunt flights need taking another look at as to where they take place. This isn't the 1st catastrophe at a Shoreham air show or any other for that matter.

alx · 23 Aug 2015 at 09:33

thenewoc said:
I think the distinction here is that most are doing routine flights which people expect to be flying over head. These air shows with stunt flights need taking another look at as to where they take place. This isn't the 1st catastrophe at a Shoreham air show or any other for that matter.

I think I read on the Telegraph yesterday that it was the 6th crash at a UK airshow in 7 years, which is a poor record.

rubberduck · 23 Aug 2015 at 09:44

Looks like pilot error to me.

firstborn · 23 Aug 2015 at 09:50

rubberduck said:
Looks like pilot error to me.

that is all.

sprite1275 · 23 Aug 2015 at 10:08

Horrible crash

feel so sorry for all involved. So unfortunate that it happened right there when there were fields all around.

I'm sure each flight display at an airshow is pre planned and if the pilot deviates from that plan they are radioed to abort the display and land so I'm not sure if this was mechanical or what.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Aug 2015 at 10:35

adam cool dude said:
Today's society of filming everything (In relation to the aftermath video) instead of trying to help those that might still be alive sickens me .

R.I.P to all those that lost their lives.

I'm split about this. I think people need to remember that it's a crime scene and that you need to be respectful. From what I saw in the video, there's not much they could have done. Having videos showing the spread of fire and path could help with AAIB investigations and may actually help give closure to the families though.

Third Opinion · 23 Aug 2015 at 11:10

nutcase_1uk said:
I have to wonder if perhaps he was trying to aim for an empty patch of the A27 once he realised he was not going to be able to recover? Traffic lights on red would have mean't a clear side of the carriageway. Could be utterly wrong though and probably shouldn't be speculating.

Not particularly surprised the pilot survived though as it's been stated the wings and everything behind detached, so that's all the flammable part.

Really hoping there's no further loss of life

The part of the A27 that passes Shoreham airport is never quiet. Unfortunately he couldn't have impacted at a worse point which is a notorious bottleneck. It turns from a three lane dual carriageway into two lanes with traffic lights on a crossroads.

It is a notorious spot for road accidents.

R.I.P to the victims.

Pigeon_Killer · 23 Aug 2015 at 11:30

Just seen one of the victims was called Matt Jones. Saw a Tweet from his sister last night asking if anyone had heard from him because they couldn't contact him

Nexus · 23 Aug 2015 at 11:52

Third Opinion said:
The part of the A27 that passes Shoreham airport is never quiet. Unfortunately he couldn't have impacted at a worse point which is a notorious bottleneck. It turns from a three lane dual carriageway into two lanes with traffic lights on a crossroads.

It is a notorious spot for road accidents.

R.I.P to the victims.

Even just from the limited scope of the videos, that sadly looks to be the case. It seems like there is nothing but fields directly around the road.

koolpc · 23 Aug 2015 at 11:56

rubberduck said:
Looks like pilot error to me.

You expert are you? It might have been a mechanical failure!

Its beneficial theses days to have so many people filming things as i am sure it can help with the investigation.

Harlequin · 23 Aug 2015 at 11:57

there are 2 FACTS about this:

1) an airplane was flown into the ground.

2)people have died as a result of 1).

anything else is guess work on a pc forum...

sprite1275 · 23 Aug 2015 at 11:59

MOOGLEYS said:
You need a good 44,000lb of thrust to pull out that low and at that angle.... This Typhoon managed it...... Just...........

Watching the videos of the Hunter it really looks like he was just to low and not enough thrust. It looks like he expected to pull out of the loop.

Horrible end but will be intersting to find out what happened.

jeees, that was close. If im not mistaken thats fairford royal air tattoo. I must have missed that year as i try to go every year.

Hyburnate · 23 Aug 2015 at 12:00

koolpc said:
You expert are you? It might have been a mechanical failure!

Its beneficial theses days to have so many people filming things as i am sure it can help with the investigation.

It helps an insane amount.

Harlequin said:
there are 2 FACTS about this:

1) an airplane was flown into the ground.

2)people have died as a result of 1).

anything else is guess work on a pc forum...

Everything is guesswork unless you have actual information to work from, how qualified you are is irrelevant there is a large amount of people on this forum with interests in lots of different stuff, we have pilots on here big simulator fans, ATC workers. All are going to have more knowledge than mumsnet.

firstborn · 23 Aug 2015 at 12:07

Hyburnate said:
It helps an insane amount.

Everything is guesswork unless you have actual information to work from, how qualified you are is irrelevant there is a large amount of people on this forum with interests in lots of different stuff, we have pilots on here big simulator fans, ATC workers. All are going to have more knowledge than mumsnet.

The start of you first sentence is true. But nobody on here will have any more insight into what happened than anyone else on a forum, on mumsnet or wherever, based on the evidence gleaned form here, news sites, ********.....