Civilian performers are not allowed to point their
energy vector toward the crowd during an aerobatic
maneuver. For the purposes of an airshow waiver, aerobatic
flight is defined as +/-90 pitch or roll (paraphrased-there
are exceptions). Aerobatic maneuvers which may point
the nose of the aircraft toward the crowd, but which
are at, or nearly at, stall speed (hammerheads, spins,
etc) are allowed (again, condensed from about 10 pages
of definitions). Non-aerobatic turns toward the crowd
are permitted (how else would we stay in the box with
an off-crowd wind).

North American military jet teams, specifically the
USAF Thunderbirds, USN Blue Angels and RCAF Snowbirds,
are exempt from these requirements. ICAS (International
Council of Airshows) has been pounding on the military
to eliminate energy toward the crowd maneuvers, with
some success. They are no longer performing the 'point-at-the-cro
wd-and-miss' type maneuvers. The high-G 360 is still
pretty scary to watch. We're working to get that one
eliminated, as well as the reverse Cuban (which has
probably killed more jet jocks than enemy fire).

We all realize that if there is ever an accident like
Ukraine or Ramstein in the US, we're all out of the
airshow biz permanently. Despite sensationalist news
reports to the contrary, the last US airshow spectator
fatality was about 60 years ago.

All that having been said, the rules have been completely
rewritten, effective January 1, 2006. (Since these
are conditions of waiver, not regulations, they do
not have to go through the normal rulemaking process.)
Unfortunately, the FAA hasn't gotten around to printing
them yet.

Good news is the new FAA National Airshow Coordinator
is a former airshow pilot. He's been working hard
with the likes of Ralph Royce to incorporate many of
the changes we've been asking for. He seems like a
real 'heads-up' guy. Of course it could be years before
all this information filters down to the local level.
Should be an interesting summer...

Bob C
Silent Wings Airshows



At 01:30 03 April 2006, Greg Arnold wrote:
Jack wrote:
From a knowledgeable poster on another list...

'Aerobatic maneuvering towards the crowd/airshow line
is prohibited.
(for example rolls, loops, pullups, cuban eights,
spins, any
recoveries,etc.) To do so, a waiver letter from the
FAA must be
obtained where each maneuver is described and analyzed
for scatter
field effects from a loss of a aircraft part/hardware/external
store, etc., and also from debris from a ground contact.
Very few
of these [waivers] are available to civilian display
pilots. 360
degree level turns are not considered aerobatic maneuvers,
no
matter how high the G forces during the sustained
turn.

'This has been in effect for several years now; 8
years as best as
I can recall.'

Great. One of these days, a fighter turning toward
the crowd (but a
level turn, so not acrobatic!) will take out half the
crowd at an airshow.