Hawker Hunter Crash at Shoreham Airshow

[Flying Lawyer]

2 things concern me.

1. Why anyone in the Sussex Police thought it appropriate to disclose that they are investigating an earlier incident knowing, unless he/she was a naive half-wit, that there was a very high risk the information would be leaked to the press and, if it was, that the press would certainly publicise the earlier incident.
   .
2. Why anyone here thinks it appropriate or fair to criticise the pilot on an open public forum, in relation to either or both incidents, when he is still at risk of being prosecuted.
   There is an obvious risk that potential jurors will be influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by what they read here or see quoted in the press. Quotes from PPRuNe regularly appear in the press when there is an aviation accident or incident. Journalists assume, understandably given the site name, that all contributors to discussions on PPRuNe are professional pilots whereas many are not and never have been pilots of any sort except in their dreams.
   Chatting in the privacy of a crew-room is very different from publishing potentially damaging opinions on the internet.