Il Frecce Tricolore-Ejection at Turin 16 Sept 2023
 

Video footage of one of the pilots ejecting at very low level.

Unconfirmed reports of injuries and a fatality on the ground.

Having seen the team before on several occasions it looks like this is a mishap during a display take off.

If reports correct, hit a car on road, one child died and another plus parents injured.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/345619

Film, it possibly hit one of the two cars seen in the film? :sad:

https://video.repubblica.it/edizione...cbo=v2-Pag0gsq

Doesn't really matter which car it hit, . So tragic for the family. A five year old child died, terrible for the team as well.

Agreed, I didn’t try to infer otherwise, sorry if it sounded like that.

I can't imagine what this family is going through, as apparently they were trying to rescue the poor child from the car but their efforts were in vain.
May she rest in peace.
Her brother and parents suffered non life-threatening injuries, although the brother appears to be in more serious conditions.
The pilot ejected but suffered burns (condition unknown).
At Torino Caselle Airport (TRN), all operations are suspended at least until midnight.
The aircraft (callsign Pony 4) became "uncontrollable" after a possible bird strike upon takeoff.
The "Frecce Tricolori" team was directed to the city of Vercelli, where it was scheduled to perform a flyover, which was promptly cancelled.
An aerobatic display scheduled in Torino for tomorrow afternoon in occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Italian Air Force was also cancelled.

(Source: Adnkronos news agency)

Is this just another "example" of countries using obsolescent (obsolete?) and relatively ageing (and thus "cheap"?) platforms for their national formation teams - and the unfortunately somewhat predictable consequences of pushing those airframes and power units "almost to the limit" without really ensuring that they are actually still fully capable of withstanding the stresses involved ?

PS: that crash looked to me like some form of power unit failure (I am happy for one of the Mods to delete that comment if it is felt to pre-judge the issues).

PPS: FWIW, i was at Shoreham and saw that crash, and also at Duxford when the Skyraider hit the Mustang and caused it to crash - I seen quite a few airshows in my time!

Reports are it was caused by a bird strike.

This makes the type as well as the fact that it was the Frecce rather irrelevant, power loss and consequenct accidents caused by this can happen to any single engine jet and occasionally even to rather large airliners.

My question is the size of the airshow box. From what I can see the same crash sequence would not have put anyone in danger at a North American airshow. With respect to the Shoreham Hunter crash, that airplane would not have been allowed to fly in a North American airshow as the aerobatic box was not big enough for Jet Aircraft according to FAA and Transport Canada rules.

If true, in general terms, I recant my comment about the power unit - OTOH, air show displays are almost always (& have to be!) done at low level - where bird strikes are a definite and well-known hazard!. Therefore, maybe, more strike resistant jet engines should probably be considered as "necessary" or at least "strongly advised".

In which case the some of the power plants in older airframes are (but not always!)) more likely to considered vulnerable to bird strikes than modern ones.

Please don't assume that I'm against formation displays at airshows because I'm not, but the aircraft involved do need to be suitable for the likely conditions - and that must include possible bird strikes, given the number of times those have been shown to happen, being included in the risk assessments which should be performed prior to the shows.

BTW: OTOH, I understand that some very old jet motor designs are very bird strike tolerant - maybe someone with more knowledge might like to enlarge on that point?

Not sure of the relevance: as I understand it, the team were not displaying, they were departing to display elsewhere. There are plenty of runways with roads adjacent to them in North America, as I recall.

That is correct alfaman, they were taking off from Turin (where they are temporarily based due to performances scheduled for today and tomorrow) and were meant to conduct a flyover in Vercelli, a nearby city.
Both events have been cancelled.

Aftermath:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3c14fe55fb.jpg

I did not pick up on that, I thought they were at an air display.

Tragic circumstance. Waddington has traffic lights stopping traffic on the A15 with aircraft landing at that end. No idea if the lights are on for take off. If the airframe and engine components are safe in life, age is not an issue. Engine ate a bird and was trashed? Pilot made correct decision. Seems the effect of ejecting with the equal and opposite force on the airframe caused the nose to be forced down thus shortening its glide path plus pitch down with nobody at controls. Nobody at fault.

Could be Waddington, coningsby or a few other RAF stations.

The only potential relevance of this being a display team is that it MAY have involved a formation take off. If so then they MAY have lined up further down the runway and potentially used less than full power for take off, thus moving the crash site position. To my eye the aircraft looked way too low energy to have got airbourne then joined up to fly through. Had that been the case then a zoom climb to force landing attempt or at least a higher ejection would probably have ensued.

A few years back the Blue Angels lost an aircraft in Smyrna, Tennessee while practicing for the upcoming airshow. Smyrna airport is pretty much surrounded by built up areas.
The difference is that the pilot of that aircraft chose to stay in the jet so he could point it where it would do the least damage. Just sayin'.....
RIP Capt Kuss

Irrelevant & not true. M339PAN, the Freccie Tricolori version, have between 2500-4000 hrs (designed for 10000 hrs) and are maintained more rigourosly than standard issue AMI aircraft so "obsolescence" does not come into play. Also, birdstrikes, and that looks like a quite possible if not probable cause of loss of power, has very little if anything to do with aurframe or engine TT.