Skyhawk-N
What a strange post from someone who (I assume from your title) flies an aircraft that burns leaded fuel at around 8-10 gallons per hour.
That aside, anything that keeps flying in the spotlight when we face a future of dwindling licence uptake, increasing fuel costs, closing airfields, increased EU limitations... the list goes on.... has got to be a good thing. Even more so when the flying is exciting to watch.
Your dangerous comments are a touch naive. The rules governing any form of aerobatic manoeuvre are in line with current air show regulations; 10 people or 10,000,000 people watching would be just as safe. The courses are designed to be safe for onlookers. Equally the 'non too safe manoeuvres' are flown by pilots who, surprisingly, are very well qualified to fly them and they are very safely flown when compared to someone with, say, a 45 hour PPL. The only 100% safe aviation is to leave aircraft gently gathering dust in a hangar.
If the Red Bull concept gets more punters down to the dwindling numbers of airfields on a Sunday to watch, wonder and maybe even pay for a half hour trial flight (in a Cessna, let alone an Extra) then it gets my vote.
Noisy? Yep. polluting? I guess (compared to a diesel VW Polo.) Dangerous? The highly skilled pilots would agree to an element of risk but know their aircraft and their limits sufficient to mitigate low level aerobatic risk.
Great to watch? You bet. Along with Formula 1, BTCC, Flying Legends, the Paris airshow, WRX..........
A good way possibly give people the flying bug? Absolutely.