OK, I've bitten my tongue for long enough. Here's my 2p worth. I wasn’t there so I am trying to say this without bias either way, so if anyone slags me off, I'll be round with my dodgy 'mates' from the East End of Bethnal Green to lean on them! Just like Mr M**dy might be now after most of you guys have effectively sentenced him by internet trial! Let’s wait for the facts before we slaughter someone online, and then do it properly. Where does Pprune stand on Libel (Slander? Can never remember which one)?
Virgin,
Maybe the 'facts' are not quite as accurate as people make out? Just because several people have mentioned them here online, doesn’t mean they are accurate! If anything, the 'facts' on Pprune mean that they are almost certainly 100% ill-informed gossip from people who heard it down at the flying club bar!
Has anyone seen anything written down WHY the pilots are being investigated? Are they actually being investigated by the CAA, or have they just been told off? What laws have they broken, if any? Maybe Mr M**dy was justified in taking it further on grounds that he thought it dangerous or irresponsible? Are all us pruners actually saying things on here that the 2 unlucky pilots might not want us to? Are we dropping them in it by what we are saying? Anyone considered that?
There are lots of 'rules' in the ANO [URL=http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP393.PDF] that apply to Flying Displays, overflight of people on the ground and low flying. Article 70, Rule 5 etc etc. Most of them appear to be stupid rules to most of us, but somebody wrote them for a reason. Has anyone actually considered that by flying a display over the airfield while the PFA Rally was taking place, that the pilots may have broken just one or two of these rules? Professional good guys (Military, ex-mil & civil) **** up from time to time in all spheres of aviation. I didnt see them fly at Kemble, but I did see them at Brize Norton earlier that day and FWIW, I thought their display was pants! Maybe they had a bad day?
Where's Flying Lawyer when you need him?
Vere de Fakawe the Devils Advocate
(Not ex-military but I watched an RAF Phantom at an airshow once……………………)