Red Arrow crashed at Bournemouth Air Festival

[Passenger]

There isn't many information at this very moment - only that one of the nine BAE Hawks has crashed after their performance. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14602635

Homepage Red Arrows: http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/

[Comet]

Very tragic incident, pilot was killed instantly according to reports, though there is less coverage of this tragic accident in the UK media this morning than there is of infantile crap like "X Factor" and "Big Brother". What a country that can put worthless rubbish like those two TV programmes before a fatal accident at a British air show.

[regi]

I sent once a small thing about seeing a free excersise around Gainsborough, driving south from Scunthorpe.( 2 years ago I think)
Comet replied on that , I think.
Acrobatics are still acrobatics.
Sad for the pilot and the people he leaves behind.
The film on the BBC shows that 3 planes turned back and the middle one went down.
People always react angerly when assumptions are made. But the fact that the Brittish MoD grounded the Hawks confirms also my first impression: mechanical failure. My guess is loss of pressure.
The witness acount which said that the jet had skipped along the river bank could be the proof that the aircraft was still manouverable ( the pilot could still bring it horizontal ) and that the pilot untill the last second was fully aware what was happening. ( so no black out because of the G-force turn )
The jet also didn't explode, and the pilot was thrown out of the jet. ( maybe he had used his ejection seat at the last moment )
I have somewhere the feeling that this pilot had really bad luck and that he could have escaped with minor injuries. Just a thin line between life and death...

[Passenger]

On Saturday, there was another aerobatic crash - also with one fatality - at the Kansas City Airshow:

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/l ... ty-airshow

[regi]

The Red Arrows will resume flights - despite the cause of the crash has not been made public.
Must be that the RAF is sure that my guess of a mechanical failure was wrong.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/2 ... ying-crash

[Comet]

From what I have seen in the press, they believe it may have been caused by a bird strike as it said there were bits of bird at the crash site.