Hawker Hunter down at Shoreham

[3rd_ear]

Twitter is full of reports of a Hunter down on the A27, two cyclists killed apparently, no news of the pilot yet. That's really sad for all concerned.

[Dysonsphere]

Pilot pulled from burning plane at Shoreham Airshow - BBC News

Pilot apperantley pulled from wreakage

The pilot of a Hawker Hunter has been pulled from the burning wreckage of his plane when it came down at the Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex.
He is said to be recovering in hospital. It is not known if anyone else has been hurt.
Eyewitness Stephen Jones said the plane did a loop but didn not make it and crashed on, or very close to, the A27
Other spectators have been told it could be "several hours" before they can leave.

Though why punters cant leave I fail to understand

[TWT]

Probably because the A27 may be closed ?

[Yellow Son]

BBC News reporting the Hunter crashed 'across' the A27, hitting 'several vehicles'. Road is confirmed close din both directions, which does make access v difficult.

[Severe Clear]

Photos and more:

Plane crashes at Shoreham Air Show - Live - Telegraph

[Dysonsphere]

just looked on Google Earth crashed at end of 02 so main exit from airfield is blocked and no other way out.

[3rd_ear]

Sussex police quoted as saying "several casualties". This is a tragedy, I'm afraid. The reports of two cyclists killed and 4 cars hit are unconfirmed; it's not looking good though.

http://cdn1.24live.co/images/2015/08...0087545733.jpg

[gcal]

Originally Posted by Dysonsphere

just looked on Google Earth crashed at end of 02 so main exit from airfield is blocked and no other

way out.

Stopping people leaving may release road space for emergency vehicles.
I believe this is standard practice.

[Dysonsphere]

Not quite the same the crash is within 100` of the exit road so no way out problaby debris over exit its self

[A310bcal]

Originally Posted by TWT

Probably because the A27 may be closed ?

When the Sea Fury had its mishap at Culdrose last year , all airshow civvy traffic was halted for at least 45 minutes in order to allow emergency vehicles to access the airfield. Guess the same may apply on the A27 as in the early stages of this incident , it is hard to immediately determine casualty numbers and collateral damage.

[AN2 Driver]

Telegraph shows a plane with marking WV372 and states that this is the same plane picture taken shortly before the crash.

Shoreham Air Show plane crash: major explosion after Hawker Hunter smashes into four cars - Live - Telegraph

[me myself and fly]

Terrible - Thoughts are with all.

Video from the Airfield

https://twitter.com/1pianokid/status/635074692156665857

[Kymmy]

If it is WV372 then it's G-BXFI which is a T7 as reported

[3rd_ear]

There are now several videos showing the whole thing, all of which leave me feeling rather sick. This is a grim accident; I'm disinclined to post any links to the videos, they'll no doubt be repeated for quite some time in the media.

[slfie]

Just arrived back from Shoreham (relatively local to us). From a high vantage point we could see the A27 has stationary traffic for several miles east of the incident, and being familiar with the airport it's going to be a long, long job getting the spectators off the premises (the traffic lights at the north entrance being where the incident is). Fortunately we were on a motorbike, and were able to leave the area quickly (just as several roads were being closed to all but emergency vehicles).

By a stroke of luck we decided at the last momennt to spectate from the hill opposite (best place to watch XH558 from anyway); if we'd gone to the show we'd have been queuing at exactly the wrong place and time.

[Biggles1957]

Casualties on the ground

There is video appearing now on twitter mobile that confirms the aircraft come down onto the A27, serious casualties on the ground seem inevitable.

I suspect that this is going to have an effect on this type of show in future - I wonder if safety is going to have to be completely reviewed after this tragic event.

[Angels-One-Five]

I will say again, my thoughts are with those on the ground.

I do fear this will raise the question the suitability of performing aerobatics with vintage aircraft.

I have my fingers crossed that there are no fatalities but it does seem unlikely

[Romeo E.T.]

[anderow]

That's terrible.
That road looked very busy as well looking at traffic to the left of the video.

Seemed from the video like he just ran out of height... for whatever reason. Hopefully an AAIB report will shed more light on the facts.

[Yellow Son]

That horrifying video isn't completely clear (on my screen, at least) but it does look like a pull up followed by a wingover to port, with not enough height for the recovery.


The A27 just there is always crowded on a Saturday afternoon so, yes, there will certainly have been vehicles hit. Terrible for everyone.