Iīm portuguese, and presently flying the A310, although not in TAP.
For those who in this forum have been insulting the pilot, calling him idiot, irresponsible, unprofessional and all that, beware: you're the next ones in line to break the face, because you need to think you're better than others and thatīs not a good sign.
I know the guy that was flying the airplane, a he's a good pilot, as good as anyone else. Portugal is a small country, everybody knows everybody in aviation, and our standards are very homogeneous, there are not so many ways to trail a career in this country. I guess this shows on our safety record.
HE MESSED UP! That is a fact. This surely hasn't gone as planned. I won't make any considerations on height above ground and stuff like that, this was an air show and it seems appropriate to me. But:
1. Since my early fliyng, I was taught to do this maneuver in the following order: first you pull, then you roll. And in this case it was the other way round, rolled then pulled. I don't realy know how close that wingtip was from the ground, but thath's beside the point. And the airplane was left in a low energy condition for a long time during that turn, hanged by its engines (with those great engines it's very easy). I think he was lucky, gladly. It was not nice to watch this situation, althoug the enthusiasts loved it.
2. In one of the other low passes, gear up and flaps up, maybe slats extended, the aicraft entered a strong dutch roll motion, with a side slip beyond what I thing is acceptable for the situation, too much uncoordinated flight for that height in a jetliner. Dutch roll is not an exclusively high altitude/high speed phenomenon, and the A310 is very much a dutch roll prone acft. This was also not nice to see.
I guess lessons will be learned.