crash at duxford today [2011]

[Viper2000]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger

Flying Legends has been under the CAA radar for years cos of it's previous accidents,this might well be the last year of it,cos it's a mixture of pilot's error (one French pilot has been grounded on Sat,the other one will be as well probably) and inadequate preparation/briefing.

The closest thing to a warbird crash I've ever seen was a Martlet conducting a barrel roll at Duxford from an inadvisable altitude, bottoming out so low that I couldn't help but close my eyes (<10 feet; it was very "barrelled", the peak being perhaps 80 feet, and it seemed pretty obvious that the pilot had just underestimated how much it would drop during the rest of the manoeuvre - perhaps he was used to flying something which rolled faster?). That was probably 15 years ago or more.

The funny thing is that almost nobody else seemed to take any notice. Only about half were even watching (it wasn't a big airshow day), and I suppose most of the people who were assumed that it was deliberate. Perhaps it was, but I doubt it, and if it was then the pilot was rather too bold for my taste.

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger

Anyway,on a funny/gossip note: the plane had just been sold to a new German owner,who was watching the show,so there must have been the French pilot going "*****!",the English pilot going "****!" and the German owner going "********!" all at the same time

All of which would probably have been as nothing when compared with the tirade coming from the insurer's office...

Duxford has a terrible cross wind, and in years gone by this has been blamed. The state of the runway is dreadful, it is littered with FOD all over from the damage to it which is never or rarely repaired.
It is a great shame as Flying Legends is the only place to see all these beautiful aircraft at once, but thats part of the problem, too many aircraft in the air and on the ground at once without extra vigilant co-ordination.

There is something deeply wrong with the display's setup and co-ordination, 4 deaths and countless accidents resulting in the loss of some very rare aircraft including the Blenhiem, P38, Air Cobra, Hurricane and Spitfire just to name the major ones in the last 15 years shows that actions need to be taken.
I think their future looks very bleek right now and as sad as i am to say it quite rightly so.
Crowd managment is a shambles, you can actually walk around to the back side of the field to watch the display! If ever a plane came down there, there would be major fatalities.
Last year with the 16 spitfires, my life ! It was a stunning sight but take off was like wacky racers, it looked totally un organized. Scary stuff.
Also they push the boundaries in how close they fly to the crowd for sure.

[JG52Krupi]

Giant carebear wait for the official report before jumping down officials throat.

No one died that is the main thing.

Originally Posted by JG52Krupi

Giant carebear wait for the official report before jumping down officials throat.

No one died that is the main thing.

huh Explain

[JG52Krupi]

Originally Posted by BigPickle

huh Explain

The part about flying legends future looking bleak, its pointless to point fingers at anyone atm, wait for the official investigation.

*I may have taken your post the wrong way it sounded like you wanted flying legends shut, sorry if i got the wrong impression.

Originally Posted by JG52Krupi

*I may have taken your post the wrong way it sounded like you wanted flying legends shut, sorry if i got the wrong impression.

Its ok mate no harm done at all. I love Flying Legends but its clear that they need to make major changes to the situation. The reason i say bleak is because the CAA has major issues with the way the show has been operated for a long time.
It will be a big blow for aviation if the worst happens, but i think they'll struggle through it, i just hope they change their setup and make it safer rather than cram too much into too shorter time slots.

[Ze-Jamz]

Originally Posted by BigPickle

i just hope they change their setup and make it safer rather than cram too much into too shorter time slots.

I have to say it was the one thing i didnt like, actually there were 2

1: You have airplanes taxiing past you after their flight while others are doing theirs, you want to hear what a lot of birds sound like in flight but in a lot of cases the sound is drowned out by aircraft taxiing in front of you which is pretty much the whole length of where spectators stand so it affects everyone

and

2: please commentators be quiet when aircraft are doing flybys, it seems that they are only quiet when its infront of the tower and forget that the spectators stand goes along a 300/400m stretch which have speakers all along it, if youve got a speaker anywhere near you, you tend to spend most of the time hoping they are not going to speak when you see your favorite bird making a dive..

this is my second time and like youve suggested they need and i do hope they revise what there doing..all said though i had a great day

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by BigPickle

Duxford has a terrible cross wind, and in years gone by this has been blamed. The state of the runway is dreadful, it is littered with FOD all over from the damage to it which is never or rarely repaired.

whoa whoa whoa, there's no terrible crosswind in Duxford man, who said that? Besides, you can't always blame crosswind for a landing accident, it's normally cos people venture out when they shouldn't.

It is a great shame as Flying Legends is the only place to see all these beautiful aircraft at once, but thats part of the problem, too many aircraft in the air and on the ground at once without extra vigilant co-ordination.

There is something deeply wrong with the display's setup and co-ordination, 4 deaths and countless accidents resulting in the loss of some very rare aircraft including the Blenhiem, P38, Air Cobra, Hurricane and Spitfire just to name the major ones in the last 15 years shows that actions need to be taken.
I think their future looks very bleek right now and as sad as i am to say it quite rightly so.

Completely agree on this one.

Crowd managment is a shambles, you can actually walk around to the back side of the field to watch the display! If ever a plane came down there, there would be major fatalities.
Last year with the 16 spitfires, my life ! It was a stunning sight but take off was like wacky racers, it looked totally un organized. Scary stuff.
Also they push the boundaries in how close they fly to the crowd for sure.

well some of the nearby fields are privately held, and you can't forbid people to go there if the land owner is ok with it unfortunately.

But yeah, they're pushing the boundaries and there are two or three usual suspects that fly well outside safety measures..

[Trumper]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

well some of the nearby fields are privately held, and you can't forbid people to go there if the land owner is ok with it unfortunately.

But yeah, they're pushing the boundaries and there are two or three usual suspects that fly well outside safety measures..

The airfield is surrounded by roads and a built up area on 2 sides.
Luckily the fields are big enough to lessen the chances of a major incident BUT i personally have seen Black 6 109 bounce over the M11 , a Harvard land in the field opposite,Firefly crossing a public road and crashing into a field adjacent to housing,P38 debris bouncing over the M11.

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by Trumper

The airfield is surrounded by roads and a built up area on 2 sides.
Luckily the fields are big enough to lessen the chances of a major incident BUT i personally have seen Black 6 109 bounce over the M11 , a Harvard land in the field opposite,Firefly crossing a public road and crashing into a field adjacent to housing,P38 debris bouncing over the M11.

yeah, it's a bit of a short blanket, you can't cover all safety aspects. But they really really need to brief pilots better and make sure things are clear and redundant, it's not a racing or aerobatic competition.

I am afraid that after this one they will receive SERIOUS restrictions, if not a shutdown.. let's hope they're allowed to redesign their display with safer parameters.