Originally Posted by
El Bunto
Probably not the best example, most of the displays of XH558 are decried as 'tame', except for those of one pilot in particular.
He did the Saturday display at RIAT and on the Sunday it was specified on the tannoy that the display that day would not be the same...
I agree that old jets shouldn't be put under much stress but there is very little crowd interest in jets that just fly back and forth. Even the Viggen, for all its brute power, has trouble holding crowd attention with this year's rather flat display routine.
As a non-professional, it is concerning the number of incidents that have happened with civilian owned / operated vintage jets in recent years. I would rather see the Vulcan flown sedately rather than pushed to it (or the crew's) limits.
Perhaps to stem the attrition rate of vintage aircraft, their crews - and in yesterday's sad events, members of the public who weren't even involved with the airshow itself - new rules should be devised to ensure that in some way, these military aircraft are flown and maintained by crews under the direct control / management of the RAF. They could ensure that the pilots and their aircraft are not pushed to, and perhaps beyond their limits better than now, and permit displays to continue to take place without draconian knee-jerk regulations being necessary.