Tonybliar
You're right about the BBMF. I'll just have to stare at the totty in the crowd for the last ten minutes. But I did say it was my opinion.
Jacko
Unfortunately civilian owners/operators do not have the luxury of unlimited budgets with which to give lots of hours in training to display pilots. I've never had anything like 6 hours on type before displaying an aircraft (not many have). It's up to the pilot to know his limits. Everyone knows the results when they don't.
The CAA display authorising system works well. There will always be crashes when aircraft are taken out of the hangar. It was sad when the Me109 was confined to the museum following it's unfortunate accident. But I, and countless others, got to see it fly for a number of years and it brought great pleasure. I feel more sad to see aircraft out of their natural environment - airborne.
Reichman