Originally Posted by
athonite
In the news today, top of loop was 2600 ft at 100kts, fine in a BAe Bulldog, even Neil McCarthy, PPL JP3 and Hunter (?) display pilot, has stated it was a bit low and slow.
Apparently no defects in the AAIB report, so I guess the pilot screwed up, despite his experience.
From the interim report/bulletin linked by our PPRuNe colleague stratofreighter (thank you, sir)f:
The accident flight was recorded by the NATS radar facility at Pease Pottage. The maximum altitude recorded during the final manoeuvre was 2,600 ft amsl (recorded by Heathrow radar), which may not reflect the peak altitude achieved because the radar data was not continuous.
The radar returns are noted in the report as having a 6s refresh. The estimate is 2600', but it may turn out on further anaylsis to be another value ... we shall see.