Given that air displays at airfields are usually based on the main runway (easier to adjust your sequence and for a fast reference), I suggest that it is largely out the pilot's control where the aircraft ends up following a failure (technical or manoeuvre). It is the Display Authority who should decide the direction, safety areas or even if the venue is suitable at all. For example, I was involved in the BOI into the Mig29 midair at Fairford a few years ago. As an academic exercise, I overlaid the crash positions on an airfield map of Farnborough, using the runway as a common reference. The casualty result would have been entirely different.
Again, as I said earlier, take the overlay from the Fairford Mig 29 crash and place it centred over Shoreham's runway? See where it would place the A27 in comparison.
FB