Hunter Tragedy at Shoreham Airshow

Saturday 22nd August 2015

On the Day

Hawker Hunter T7 WV372

Hawker Hunter T7 WV372 beginning its display

The weather was perfect. The crowds were surely a record. Excitement waiting for the Vulcan, Sea Vixen, Blenheim and other superb aircraft was tangible.

Yet disaster negated all those sentiments when tragedy struck the Shoreham Airshow at 1.20pm. Hawker Hunter T7, WV372 had made an exciting fast and low pass, displaying the top-side, to enter the display area and then a vertical climb displaying the underside, leaving the showground to the east. The aircraft turned at the head of the climb to return. The turn was not completed, but the Hunter appeared to fly virtually vertically, nose down, before returning to a near-horizontal but at very low level.

Whilst the Hunter was out of sight of the airstrip a boom was heard, followed by a fireball that appeared to rush at racing-car speed towards the runway, stopping just short, immediately behind the small buildings at the eastern end of the runway.

The emergency services were on the scene very quickly and were soon joined by additional emergency support, in due course including helicopters.

We now know a little more from the media and further details will emerge over time.

The rest of the show, and the show intended for Sunday, were both cancelled. Whilst disappointing, especially in the final year of the Vulcan when two displays had been eagerly awaited, the cancellations are, of course, understandable.

Update

The final report of the CAA has now been published. See the last tab.

There may well be enduring implications for airshows generally and Shoreham specifically, but for the time being our thoughts are with the many people affected by today's tragic incident and their families, including the pilot, the motorists, their passengers and any others involved, directly or indirectly.

Let us not forget the many people who witnessed the incident and who attended on behalf of emergency and support services, some of whom may also be affected by their experience.

We do not wish to show photos of the incident, nor the aftermath. We also do not wish to join the speculation about the cause or causes. These matters we will leave to experts and the proper authorities, who will report when appropriate investigations have been completed.

A statement by BADA (British Air Display Association)

The British Air Display Association would like to react to the tragic accident that occurred in Shoreham on Saturday August 22nd and first of all to express our support and condolences for the families and friends of all those affected.

  • UK has long held an exemplary air display record in terms of public safety.
    • Prior to Saturday’s accident, the last time a member of the public was killed at a UK airshow was in 1952, nearly 63 years ago.
    • This record reflects the maturity of the multiple checks and balances that UK aviation regulators and airshow practitioners have developed.
  • The UK has extensive rules that cover airshow organisation, display aircraft heights, speeds and manoeuvres, flying supervision and a special examination and authorisation process for display pilots with graduated steps from simple flypasts to formation and aerobatics approvals.
    • In this regard, we are the envy of many other nations, not just in Europe but also across the Atlantic.
  • The Association will not speculate on how or why this particular accident occurred.
    • Some people might find that frustrating but at this stage even ‘informed’ speculation, without full knowledge of the facts, is unhelpful.
    • This is a time when careful analysis of the facts is needed before anyone tries to draw conclusions.
    • It is certainly not a time for un-informed or miss-informed rule making, especially when the existing rules have worked so well for so long.
  • Air Accident Investigation Branch experts will establish the facts, as quickly as possible.
    • Then will we will know whether this was a tragic one-off accident or whether there is more that can be done.
    • If there are lessons from this, that will be something for all involved in airshows to consider.
  • Our Association will continue to encourage, promote and advance Safety and Standards in British Air Displays.

Restrictions on displays by vintage jet aircraft

This article is outdated and retained only for completeness and historical context

Update

This article was written soon after the incident and remains available for the record. The restrictions detailed no longer apply.

Following the tragic events at Shoreham, the Civil Aviation Authority have introduced immediate restrictions on the flying of any vintage jet aircraft over land whilst the situation is further reviewed. There is also a temporary total ban on flying any Hawker Hunter.

The main restriction for aircraft other than the Hunter is that "Flying displays over land by vintage jet aircraft will be ... limited to flypasts, which means ‘high energy’ aerobatics will not be permitted".

Their full statement is here . The statement wa supercceded in February 2018. The replacement notice refers to ex-military jets and is here.

We do not ourselves wish to comment on the timing, appropriateness or extent of the restrictions.

Airshows will only go ahead if they adopt new safety rules

This article is outdated and retained only for historical context

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has warned that a number of 2016 air shows will not go ahead unless they adopt the new safety measures being introduced by the regulator. The Honourable Company of Air Pilots and BADA have issued a joint statement in response (see the next tab).

An extensive review of air show safety has been carried out by the CAA, following the accident at the Shoreham Air Show in August 2015

As part of the review, the CAA have confirmed a series of additional safety measures that air shows must meet in order to go ahead, including carrying out enhanced risk assessments. Tougher checks and training requirements for pilots and display directors are also being introduced.

Opposition to these changes has been voiced within the industry, with some in the air show community suggesting that the changes go too far or are not necessary. The CAA firmly believes that these changes are essential to ensure air shows are even safer for the millions of people who attend them each year. Unless the new requirements are met, the regulator will be unable to permit the shows to take place.

Andrew Haines, CEO of the CAA, said,

“We understand that people care passionately about air shows and we want all events to be a success, but we are also very clear that we will not compromise on safety. Enhancing the safety of air shows is essential and events that do not comply with the safety measures we are introducing simply won't be able to go ahead.

“We welcome the opportunity to address with air show organisers any questions or concerns they have around their planned activity for 2016, but safety must be the priority and we are committed to doing all that we can to make air shows even safer in the years to come.”

HCAP and BADA Response to CAA statement on airshow safety

This article is outdated and retained only for historical context

The CEO of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Mr Haines, has responded to a statement made by British Air Display Association (BADA) and the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (HCAP). That statement was in turn a response to very public statements associated with Mr Haines, and reported in the UK national press, suggesting that airshow organisers are refusing to cooperate with the CAA's safety review and threatening that, without cooperation, shows would not go ahead.

The response of Mr Haines, the CAA CEO, is in an open letter.

The original remarks attributed to the CAA are in an article entitled 'Airshows will only go ahead if they adopt new safety rules' (see previous tab on this page).

The following is the full text of the response of the British Air Display Association (BADA) and the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (HCAP) to those original remarks.

PILOT ORGANISATIONS REJECT CAA CEO’S CLAIMS THAT THE AIR DISPLAY COMMUNITY HAS DECLINED TO CO-OPERATE WITH ITS POST-SHOREHAM CRASH CHANGES TO AIRSHOWS.

’The assertion by the CAA’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Haines, reported in The Times yesterday, that there has been resistance in the air display community to the changes being proposed is factually incorrect. Nothing could be further from the truth. The entire airshow community has been focussed on drilling into the core safety issues that stem from the Shoreham tragedy to assess what changes can sensibly be made to prevent a recurrence.

There has been great anxiety about the massive increase in charges, made without realistic consultation or with any meaningful impact assessment. To suggest, however, that the airshow community has declined to ’co-operate with reforms such as rigorous checks on pilots, new training for organisers etc” is completely false.

That Mr Haines should compound this blatant piece of politicking by a public body by saying that ’the community seem to think that Shoreham is a one-off and therefore you can carry on as you are” is totally inaccurate, and a reprehensible statement from the CEO of the CAA. Before Shoreham, Mr Haines carried out cuts within the CAA budget such that many departments were unable to exercise proper regulatory management of various aspects of the aviation industry. In the case of the air display community, the small, hard-working office, responsible for the regulation of air displays, was sinking under the workload. The system was sustained only by the professional involvement of Display Authorisation Evaluators (DAEs) from the airshow community, and by the presence of a sound and well-framed regulatory system evolved over many decades.

This system was not perfect, but was subject to constant review, thanks to a healthy relationship between the small CAA office and the community at large. The system was admired throughout Europe for its practical approach to air display operation and the focus on safety. As part of the hollowing-out of the CAA, as late as mid 2015, Mr Haines was personally involved in trying to offload the responsibility for Airshow management, with its associated deregulation, to the British Air Display Association (BADA). BADA declined, as they perceived this to be a retrograde step with regard to regulatory oversight and fundamental safety.

More recently, post Shoreham, the CAA understandably instituted a top-down review of air displays, in which the air display community were anticipating their professional involvement, similar to the last major review, where the split between the CAA and the professional community was approximately 50/50. We were dismayed when it became apparent that, apart from a little window dressing by involving the inclusion in the team of an Air Marshal, this was to be an in-house exercise with no involvement of the display community at all. It should be obvious that the expertise for the disciplines of all aspects of displays largely resides with the air display community itself; the CAA is populated in the main by officials, many of whom having little or no understanding of aviation, let alone the complexities of aerobatic flying display routines.

By way of example, last month’s regular pre-season BADA symposium, an event attended by over 350 military and civilian air show organisers and pilots, was addressed by a CAA representative with little or no understanding of aviation matters who had most recently served as a Civil Servant with the NHS. Such things gave added impetus to the vigorous lobbying by the air display community to be involved in the process, and only at the eleventh hour did the CAA accept a single respected member on to the review panel.

Mr Haines has chosen to deflect criticism of him and the CAA by falsely accusing the display community of obdurate behaviour, which the public should be aware is completely untrue. The CAA has yet to issue the full details of the regulation changes even at this late hour, so display organisers have no regulations with which they can refuse to comply.

Air shows enjoy huge public support. Thanks to the professional co-operation between the community composed of highly experienced display pilots and evaluators and display organisers, the British people have been able to enjoy a safe entertainment without a fatality amongst the public for over 60 years. Of course, post Shoreham everyone needs to review how, if possible, we can prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy, but imposing draconian changes, with inadequate consultation, risks not only depriving the public of something they enjoy but also depriving young people of an experience which for so many has inspired them to become aviators or aeronautical engineers, contributing to one of the UK’s most successful, world-leading industries.

The intemperate and irresponsible approach by the CAA suggests that these rushed measures are not driven so much by a desire to enhance air show safety as to pre-empt any criticism of the CAA which might arise from forthcoming enquiries. Accordingly, we call upon Mr Haines to retract his criticism.”

CAA Review of Airshow Safety

Final Report from Civil Air Display Review

26th May 2016

This article is outdated and retained only for historical context

Hunter WV372

Hawker Hunter WV372

The Civil Aviation Authority has published its final report following their Civil Air Display Review. This follows the air display review action report that was published in January and an earlier Progress Report, published the previous October, and finalises the sequence of reports on the review that began immediately after the accident involving the Hawker Hunter at Shoreham in August 2015.

The report confirms that the restrictions imposed immediately following the accident will continue until the CAA is able to review the findings of the AAIB when their investigation has been concluded and their report published. These restrictions are:

  • grounding all UK civilian Hunter aircraft
  • restricting the display manoeuvres of similar ex-military jet aircraft over land to fly-pasts only.

The changes announced in January also remain in place. These include:

  • additional risk assessments for displays
  • additional training for people overseeing displays
  • extra checks on skills, experience and health of display pilots.

A revision to CAP 403 was issued at the same time as the report. The new rules in the revised CAP 403 build on those already in place by adding new requirements including:

  • strengthening post-display reporting requirements to reflect the importance of feedback and safety reporting from air displays
  • increasing the distance between the display line and crowd line for any situations where distances were previously less than those in place for military displays
  • Increasing the minimum altitude at which ex-military jet aircraft can undertake aerobatic manoeuvres
  • strengthening the competency requirements for pilots performing aerobatic manoeuvres in civil registered, ex-military jet aircraft.

The revised guidance in CAP 403 takes effect immediately and will be reviewed at the end of the 2016 season when the CAA say they will take into account the views of the airshow community, although there is no provision for consultation prior to implementation this year.

There has been quite a lot of national and social media comment about the impact of the new requirements. It is quite possible that, in the early reactions to the regulations, their effect is is being over-stated. It will be a while before the effect has been assessed by those with the knowledge and experience to make dependable judgements. It is also possible that ongoing discussions between the CAA and representatives of the airshow community will encourage any available flexibility to be applied.

The full text of the report is in CAP 1400
The regulations are in CAP 403

 

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