Originally Posted by
Timelord
The whole premise of aviation safety is acknowledging that human beings make mistakes. This pilot undoubtedly did that, but if every mistake that led to a fatality was followed by criminal prosecution; what would that do to our hard won safety culture. I hold no brief for Mr Hill but I am happy with the result for the sake of every pilot, controller and engineer in the business. In my view the most worrying aspect of this accident was the display authorisation “process”.
Agree 100 percent. As always in tragedies like this its a swiss cheese scenario and the majority of those holes were already lining up well before Mr Hill stepped foot in that plane on that day.
The CAA palpably failed in their duty of care (to everybody) by not seeing the writing on the wall with regards the proliferation of "vintage" jets; not recognising that performing public aeros in high power, swept wing jets required a specialist skillset and a fair amount of ongoing practice, not consistently applying its own DA rules and oversight as existed at the time, not ensuring the display venues were suitable, not ensuring display routines were pre-briefed, and that only that routine was flown, etc, etc
I'd agree with the jury that the primary cause of the Shoreham tragedy did not lie with Andy Hill, regardless of his airmanship displayed on that particular day.