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There has been a crash at the Shoreham airshow. A Hawker Hunter crashed into the main road hitting about 20 cars. One of my friends witnessed it - she was only about 100 feet from the incident when it happened. It fair shook her and her children up.
Spoiler:
Shoreham plane crash: Seven dead after Hawker Hunter hits cars
22 August 2015
From the section Sussex
Seven people have died after a Hawker Hunter jet crashed into several vehicles during Shoreham Airshow.
South East Coast Ambulance Service said the victims all died at the scene, with a further person being taken to hospital in critical condition.
The plane crashed on the nearby A27. Fourteen people were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Eyewitnesses said the plane was performing a loop but did not complete the manoeuvre and crashed.
Stephen Jones, who saw the crash, said: "The aeroplane involved is a Hawker Hunter T mark 7. And he'd just begun his flying display.
Read the latest updates on the crash
"He'd gone up into a loop and as he was coming out of the loop I just thought, you're too low, you're too low, pull up.
"And he flew straight into the ground either on or very close to the A27, which runs past the airport."
Ailish Southall, who was driving along the A27 in West Sussex with her two children, said the plane came down close to them.
"We were waiting for it to go back up and it didn't - it seemed to kind of split in two," she said.
"There were huge amounts of fire and we ran from the car to kind of avoid the debris because we were about 15 metres away, we were just across the road from where the accident happened."
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Another eyewitness, tweeting as Jon B, said: "It (the plane) turned from the north by Lancing College, went to go low towards the airfield and went behind some trees below where I was.
"Then there was a crunch sound and a ball of flames and thick black smoke came up from the ground."
At the scene
BBC Sussex reporter Simon Jenkins
I'm standing on the middle of the A27 and it's deserted.
The police are taking no chances whatsoever. I've been asked to move back in case of any further explosions.
I've been speaking to people and they are absolutely stunned. The plane seems to have stalled mid manoeuvre and came crashing down on the A27.
The acrid smell and thick black smoke has just been fanning across the area and the skies are completely quiet.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said emergency services had declared a "major incident" with a number of helicopters deployed to the scene following the crash at 13:20 BST.
He said: "The casualties are all believed to have occurred on the road at this time and there are not thought to be any injuries to anyone actually on the airfield.
"The Air Accident Investigation Bureau are attending the scene and have asked anyone who has video or photographs of the plane in the time leading up to and including the crash to hold on to them and await advice as to whether they may be wanted to assist with the investigation."
'Massive fireball'
Shoreham resident Dave Penwarden, 51, said he saw the plane explode.
"The plane was coming out of a loop-the-loop, it was fairly low," he said.
"It just didn't seem to have enough speed to come out of the loop, instead of powering out it dropped too fast and hit the ground.
"There was a massive fireball and an awful lot of smoke. Afterwards there was a stunned silence."
Gairo Gomez, who works nearby, said: "I heard a huge bang and the glass was shaking and the doors were banging, the whole building was shaking.
"I saw some smoke later on, at the time I didn't realise what had happened. Then I was told the plane had crashed, it's terrible."
Tim Loughton MP, who represents East Worthing and Shoreham, tweeted: "Tragic news that there have been fatalities at the Shoreham Air Show crash and our thoughts and prayers must be with the families and casualties."
It is the second incident at the Shoreham Airshow in recent years.
In September 2007 James Bond stuntman Brian Brown, 49, died when he crashed a World War Two Hurricane after carrying out an unplanned barrel roll at a re-enactment of the Battle of Britain.
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter was a mainstay of the RAF through the 1950s and early 1960s.
First flown in 1951, the single-seat plane was used as a fighter, fighter-bomber for reconnaissance and for aerobatics.
There was also a two-seat trainer version, which served with many other air forces. Two-seater variants are still used by the RAF for training.
The Hunter Hawker was deployed in major operations such as Malaya and Suez.
The plane was also flown by an RAF display team dubbed the "Black Arrows"
Some footage of the crash:
And the aftermath:
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I was there with the family when that happened. We were commenting on how nimble the Hunter was; it was more akin to a bird than an aircraft, then it goes low behind the treeline before a fireball erupts from the distance.
Something we noticed at the time was the relative lack of noise coming from the Hunter. We expected a jet to be much louder yet it was rather quiet at times. Wherever this had something to do with the crash such as an engine cut-out remains to be said.
Not unlikely this was caused by cost cutting on maintenance. Before they were mostly retired the RAF was losing a disproportional number of aircraft to in flight failure. Trouble is the MoD doesn't like to admit it cuts costs the bone and blames the pilots more often than not. It has caused friction in the service which has reached the press on more than one occasion.
Hunters are still used by the RAF for training purpose, being solid (normally) reliable aircraft. Though no aircraft works well if it's maintenance is skimped on.
Interesting to note that the pilot somehow survived this, though there is no footage of him ejecting. He is listed as critically injured in hospital.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
Orlanth wrote: Not unlikely this was caused by cost cutting on maintenance. Before they were mostly retired the RAF was losing a disproportional number of aircraft to in flight failure. Trouble is the MoD doesn't like to admit it cuts costs the bone and blames the pilots more often than not. It has caused friction in the service which has reached the press on more than one occasion.
Hunters are still used by the RAF for training purpose, being solid (normally) reliable aircraft. Though no aircraft works well if it's maintenance is skimped on.
Interesting to note that the pilot somehow survived this, though there is no footage of him ejecting. He is listed as critically injured in hospital.
Seeing how the plane appeared to still be pulling out of the dive until moments before impact he couldn't possibly have ejected before that; if he actually got out (and damn, that's cutting it close!) he was too close to that fireball to be seen on camera, I'd guess. Though how you'd survive that....
From what little I know, you you are low and going down over civilians your duty is not to eject but to steer wreckage away from population.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
Orlanth wrote: Not unlikely this was caused by cost cutting on maintenance. ...l.
We won't know for sure what actually happened until the AAIB have completed their investigation. It's best not to speculate until their findings are known.
"All their ferocity was turned outwards, against enemies of the State, foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals" - Orwell, 1984
So the footage isn't great, but it looks like a loop and he crashes on the pull out. In the last frame before the crash the plane is slightly nose up, so at that point the pilot is conscious and has at least minimal control. It would be easier to tell if there was engine failure if there was volume (scratch that - photo one second before impact shows good jet efflux).
The plane hasn't barrel rolled or yawed excessively. There's a correction bank to the left then straighten just before impact (I don't think that's a UFCM). It almost looks like he aimed for the road, but that would be a terrible mistake.
I'm not a professional crash investigator but I'd suggest the pilot tried to pull out of the loop too late, either because the move was intentionally not started early enough (pilot error) or because the pilot blacked out on the climb (medical). An alternative is that one or more of the surfaces didn't move to slow the acceleration out of the dive (component failure). Most likely the flaps, but I'd need a better look before I was sure.
Just had a look on PPRUNE and they're not sure either.
Orlanth wrote: Not unlikely this was caused by cost cutting on maintenance.
Not sure how long it's been since you had contact with RAF maintenance but the culture, both military and civie, has changed dramatically since XV230. If this was caused by engineering error ... well... I'm gonna feel a little sick about it (note that I'm not saying engineering error can not be at fault, it is possible. But it will not be related to cost cutting).
Latest thing I've read suggests the day was 7-8 degrees hotter than the average for the Summer. It's possible the air density was a contributing factor.
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2015/08/23 19:07:59
One of the more recent introductions over here in the UK was to ban pilots from doing acrobatics over the crowd due to accidents where people were killed by crashes down to both pilot error and aircraft failure
maybe it's time to think about bans of acrobatics over populated areas (or roads etc) for the same reason
even if that means some shows have to be axed as they don't have enough clear area nearby
Hunters are still used by the RAF for training purpose, being solid (normally) reliable aircraft. Though no aircraft works well if it's maintenance is skimped on.
The Hawker Hunters not been used by the RAF for over 20 years, and the one that crashed was privately owned, not military.
But what a horrific crash, and sadly there seams to be a few ghoulish videos from the crash site. Who in there right minds first reaction to an accident, is to run up whip out your phone and start filming.
My heart sinks whenever I hear of these incidents. Wasn't there one quite recently this year at another show (admittedly not over a road)?
Poor, poor bastards.
The only possible use I can see for recording such an incident is for crash investigation, and I somehow doubt some of the folk slapping it into YouTube and Facebook had that in mind.
I've taken photos of a fairly harrowing incident before, and just immediately handed my memory card over to the police as they arrived. That was a situation where in a matter of half an hour, the scene would have changed (severe weather and no limit on public access). I was photographing the pattern of how things were arranged just after impact... It would never have occurred to me to show other people, and I was deeply torn about the ethics of doing it at all.
So far 11 are confirmed dead and more are being discovered all the time. There is also belief that there will be more bodies once they shift the wreckage.
The aircraft is yet to be shifted as there is still fuel on board.
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Hunters are still used by the RAF for training purpose, being solid (normally) reliable aircraft. Though no aircraft works well if it's maintenance is skimped on.
The Hawker Hunters not been used by the RAF for over 20 years, and the one that crashed was privately owned, not military.
But what a horrific crash, and sadly there seams to be a few ghoulish videos from the crash site. Who in there right minds first reaction to an accident, is to run up whip out your phone and start filming.
Have you seen the videos of the man in China being eaten by another on a train? Or the videos of a man brutally beating a woman in a shopping mall? There are many available angles because of how many cameras were pointed at it. Welcome to today's global society where the first reaction is 'Watch' and not 'Help'. People suck.
Looks to me that he just misjudged the altitude to start the loop at. He maybe held the dive a second or so too long but I don't think that would have saved him. You can see the wings rocking at the very end which almost looks like the plane is trying to snap roll from him cranking on the stick so hard to get the nose up.
I doubt very much that it was mechanical failure, just poor judgement.
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Tuagh wrote: If you won't use a wrench, it isn't the bolt's fault that your hammer is useless.
Witnesses at the scene were interviewed on the radio today. Two claimed to have seen a flameout.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
The last comparable incident was 1952. Placing restrictions on old airframes makes sense though, but they would have to define old.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/08/25 09:39:34
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
These are temporary measures, though, and may be withdrawn once the cause of the accident has been determined accurately. The CAA is a safety first organisation, which I think they should be.
My wife has banned me from going to air shows, though, because they are too dangerous. That is what I call a knee jerk reaction.
Not sure how long it's been since you had contact with RAF maintenance but the culture, both military and civie, has changed dramatically since XV230. If this was caused by engineering error ... well... I'm gonna feel a little sick about it (note that I'm not saying engineering error can not be at fault, it is possible. But it will not be related to cost cutting).
11,100 pts, 
7,000 pts
