The pilot in this instance has been found not guilty in a court of law of the charges laid against him. I have read the AAIB report in some detail but clearly only the press coverage of the court proceedings. Despite the pilots apparent lack of recall of the events that took place, it seems that his defence counsel has made a very convincing case for cognitive impairment which whilst unproven in an absolute sense was nonetheless suitably convincing for the jury. Quite at what point this impairment took place or may have taken place will remain unknown yet it would seem that mistakes were made by the pilot at an early stage of the display which may have led to a point at which such impairment may have limited the pilots ability to rectify the situation into which he had placed himself and his aircraft.
Surely the recognition of this 'condition' may mean that the CAA will be forced to make even further stringent moves against display flying particuarly involving high speed fast jet aircraft whether or not they fall into the vintage category. A fear that future incidents will be blamed upon cognitive impairment as a standard defence against prosecution may prove unacceptable to the regulatory authorities. Much as I admire the abilities of pilots which are immeasurably greater than my own, I have always harboured the belief that some display flying utilises aircraft carrying out manoeuvres for which they were not designed and as such little room for error; I fear their days may be even more numberered than they already were.