There was still an arrestor barrier across the end of the runway in those days. The tower controller was unaware if the SU27 was 'approved' to engage it so although SOP was to have it raised for takeoff and landing of all fast jets, he lowered it. I still wonder to this day if this was the correct action, although by doing so, the aircraft was able to fly later; if it had engaged the barrier, there might have been some airframe damage to prevent it flying.
As an aside, Honey Monster who recently posted in the ATC thread, had a wicked sense of humour. He was in the tower and several people were walking across the runway for morning briefing. He saw John Cunningham approaching the 'bottleneck' (narrow bit at the end of the runway) and raised the arrestor barrier. Cunningham stopped, looked at it, decided it was no hazard, carefully parted the vertical webbing strips, stepped through them, and continued to the briefing tent!
The first airshow accident I witnessed after I was posted to Farnborough was in 1974 with the Sikorsky S67 Blackhawk prototype (Not to be confused with the present day H60 Blackhawk - an entirely different airframe). It was part way through its display, flying north east along the display line and at the end, pulled up to commence a barrel roll. Now this, I'm told, had not been included in his rehearsed and approved display, but had been added with the verbal approval of OC Flying. Unfortunately, it rolled out with a high rate of descent. I was in an 'office' with a good view of the flying on the third floor of the tower preparing the next day's flying programme along with a couple of colleagues. It was obvious from the blade slap that something was wrong, and I said 'he's going in' simultaneously with one of the others who said the exact same words. The helicopter hit the ground heading roughly north near the parked line of 'rescue' helicopters having checked most of its rate of descent and I expected it to just grind to a halt, instead of which it erupted in a ball of flame. Tragically both occupants lost their lives as a result of this.
Last edited by chevvron; 19th Jul 2012 at 23:11.