UK Firefly crashes

"F7FTCAT" wrote in message
...
Am I imagining things or does there seem to be a pretty high attrition
rate
among the really rare airplanes at some of these UK airshows?

I think it's more a matter of their being more of these aircraft flying in
the UK.

I mean there was the P-38, P-63, Mosquito, the Me-109 (Black 6), then
there was
the Sea Fury on the golf course and the Sea Fury on the beach. Now there
is the
Firefly.

There have also been many other accidents involving warbirds outside of the
UK.

I am certainly not trying to infer that we here in the states are perfect
with
no losses. There is plenty of blame to go around for pilot error here that
causes the loss of men and machine as well as the inevitable mechanical
failure.

And despite all efforts it is inevitable that some will be lost, as tragic
as that will be.

However, correct me if I am wrong (and I could be!!) but the news clips
that we
see of these airplanes "going in" all seem to involve either low level
aerobatic maneuvers gone wrong or "grass cutting" low passes that go to
hell
for one reason or another.

Most seem to involve some level of aerobatics or "low margin" flying.

The clip I saw on the Firefly looked like the pilot
dished out of the bottom end of a loop or something and went in pretty
much
parallel to the ground, "a pancake hit" if you will. It almost looked like
a
high speed stall as he was pulling out with a recovery initiated as impact
occurred.

Whatever it was, it looked like he was going to be too low for my liking
regardless. Of course, I'm the first to admit I'm no expert on these matters
but it did look a little low.

I am sure that there are those that will brand my remarks as insensitive
and
callous but accidents like this do happen for a reason. Barring a
mechanical
failure of some sort, the primary reason is pilot error.

It involves humans, there will be mistakes at some stage.

I am sure that the Royal Navy Pilot flying the aircraft was very well
qualified
and a fine pilot and on any given day his skill levels matched or exceeded
those of any other warbird pilot on the circuit. The thing I do question,
however, is why does it appear that these airplanes are being put through
moderate to strenuous aerobatic maneuvers at very low altitudes with
little
margin for escape if the maneuver goes wrong?

The key issue here is that no matter how much we love to see these historic
aircraft fly they a historically significant, often rare, often quite
aged. For those reasons we cannot afford to loose them (including the lives
of those who fly and maintain them).

I myself love to see warbirds fly and I do enjoy seeing aerobatics as
well.However, I do feel that airplanes of which there may be less than a
dozen
flying in the world should be flown as gently as possible so as to
minimize
risk. I can enjoy watching a P-63 without having to see it do a vertical
pull-up off the deck. I can enjoy a Firefly without seeing it do a Cuban
Eight
or a loop. I do not have to see grass clippings in the intake of a P-38 to
know
that it is impressive on a high speed fly-by.

Somewhere a line has to be drawn. No aerobatics or very limited aerobatics
with big safety margins. I love aerobatics but would rather watch a warbird
do a safe moderate altitude moderate speed pass than watch in terror as one
is pushed to the limit............or worse.

Yes, the limitations are not hard and will vary from aircraft to aircraft
etc.

I hope the officiating parties undertake a review of these past accidents
and
try to determine if there is a common denominator. If there is, it should
be
eliminated, if possible, so that the airshow committee doesn't have to
make a
decision every year as to "whether the show should continue" or not.

Whilst the organisers always want a safe event, they also want some
spectacle. Leave the spectacle of aerobatics to more modern aircraft.


My condolences to the pilot's family and for anyone that takes offense by
this
post, please accept my heartfelt apology. Unfortunately, these tragedies
occur
for a reason and they should be addressed.

It's hard to explain all my thoughts on the matter here but at the end of
the day we need to be taking greater care of these historic aircraft and
perhaps should do more to avoid aerobatics. Keep them flying but please
don't push them.

The Raven