No surprise. The site at Farnborough has been unsuitable for most displays for quite some time, and even more so for a formation team like the Reds. They haven't displayed at Shoreham for some years, allegedly for the same reason that much of the display would be over built up areas.
Traveling along the M3 a few years ago, at a rather slow pace I should add, I got to enjoy a significant part of the Red Arrows' display at Farnborough. Perhaps the weather had something to do with it, but I remember the display consisting of several passes along the display line in different formation shapes, nothing more. The Shoreham investigation will obviously influence several airshows in the upcoming years, but I would argue that it is not as if the planned display is something new for the Red Arrows at that particular venue. Apart from the stated issues, the airliners traveling overhead may also have influenced the choice for a flat display.
Just my 2 cents of course.
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The flat display is normally done for weather considerations, for Farnborough the airspace is altered to allow high displays as LHR traffic is rerouted. Having read the risk assessment for Farnborough last week the show organisers were prepared to give the Reds more leeway than the other displays based on their experience, i.e. most other displays at the show are company test pilots rather than full time display pilots. However AOC 22 Group as the man who'd be in court if there was an accident has obviously decided the risk of one of the jets coming down in the town was greater than the reward of doing a full display.
Absence of accidents is not evidence of safety, look at the Nimrod.
I think one has to remember that the Shoreham accident stirred up horrible memories of Farnborough 1952, when the break up of John Derry's DH110 caused wreckage to plunge into the crowd with catastrophic consequences. Then the Oulton park accident followed Shoreham only a short time later: that , mercifully, caused no third party casualties, but the fact that it did not was purely fortuitous . The effect of these two accidents cannot be underestimated
cstorey wrote:I think one has to remember that the Shoreham accident stirred up horrible memories of Farnborough 1952, when the break up of John Derry's DH110 caused wreckage to plunge into the crowd with catastrophic consequences. Then the Oulton park accident followed Shoreham only a short time later: that , mercifully, caused no third party casualties, but the fact that it did not was purely fortuitous . The effect of these two accidents cannot be underestimated
The Oulton Park incident was before the Shoreham crash.
SkippyBing wrote:The flat display is normally done for weather considerations, for Farnborough the airspace is altered to allow high displays as LHR traffic is rerouted. Having read the risk assessment for Farnborough last week the show organisers were prepared to give the Reds more leeway than the other displays based on their experience, i.e. most other displays at the show are company test pilots rather than full time display pilots. However AOC 22 Group as the man who'd be in court if there was an accident has obviously decided the risk of one of the jets coming down in the town was greater than the reward of doing a full display.
Absence of accidents is not evidence of safety, look at the Nimrod.
indeed, and the display box has been reduced this year as well.
expect more flypasts and less aerobatics , going to be more of a trade show than public entertainment
show.
ttfn
Pete
An Elephant is a Mouse designed to
a government specification.
