Thanks for the lesson stallie...
I do feel that the level of risk has not been mitigated enough. The majority of locations have the local populace/spectators/city/buildings in quite close proximity and I don't feel this is acceptable residual or properly mitigated risk. I feel exactly the same way about F1/Indy/V8's etc. That though, is the spectator's choice, provided they are fully informed of the risk involved...
The race is a highly competitive, fast paced event where hundredths of seconds can decide the winner. All of these pilots are far far far superior to myself in their skill. And yet we have seen two errors of judgement in the last 2 months, both fortunately not ending in death. Furthermore, for Mr Hall to admit that he 'broke his golden rule and looked into the turn' whilst only during practice indicates that even though these guys are incredibly skilled, they are still trying to best one another. Lets hope that their competitiveness does not result in collateral damage.
In my opinion, as wrong as it may be Aerocat, is that this level of residual risk will be deemed acceptable until someone apart from the competitors is injured or killed in an accident involving a race aircraft. Just like at the Melbourne F1 a few years ago...
And as far as the article is concerned... The paragraphs below
‘The main aim of Red Bull is to entertain people safely,’ he explains.
‘Safety is my first goal – I don’t want to injure myself, or other people, or
damage the aircraft. The second is professionalism – showing that people
can rely on me and my team, both for flying and administration. And
after that, there’s the results – they’re definitely my last priority, because
if they overtake safety or professionalism, there’s no future in it.’
Being very clear on exactly what you’re going to do, an exact and detailed flight plan, Matt says, means that extraneous factors encountered in
various race venues, such as confi ned spaces, buildings etc do not
become an issue.
He admited that he didn't fly the aircraft as he intended... that tells me that everything he stated above is filler.
Once again, I don't have a problem with them going out there and doing this stuff, just don't try and pass it off as something it's not. It's not safe and in my opinion, it is not properly mitigated. If it was safe, you wouldn't have crowds lining the boundaries hoping to see a crash.
j3