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An Italian Air Force has crashed into the sea killing the pilot during an airshow at Terracina,south of Rome.

https://theaviationist.com/2017/09/24/i ... est-pilot/

The pilot made no attempt to eject,and appears to have misjudged the recovery height required to complete a loop manoeuvre.

In the UK the CAA that control airshows,there has been a big push to get airshows at seaside venues as they claim it is safer.
Most display pilots would tend to disagree,as it is very difficult to gauge height above water,and there are few reference points.

Doubtless the debate will rage on - however yet another pilot and aircraft have been lost performing what should be a fairly routine manoeuvre.

Looks like he didn't pull the power back as he went over the top. Could he have been incapacitated? There was no evidence that he knew he screwed the pooch and honked back on the stick.



Go to 1:16:


Either way, sad event.

miamiair wrote:Could he have been incapacitated?

Definitely looked easily recoverable in the early stages so I'd say that's a distinct possibility. Or...

paul mcallister wrote:In the UK the CAA that control airshows,there has been a big push to get airshows at seaside venues as they claim it is safer.
Most display pilots would tend to disagree,as it is very difficult to gauge height above water,and there are few reference points.

Add to that the widely differing air temperatures over shallow water, particularly close to shore. On a hot summer's day it's always 10C+ cooler a mile offshore from here and you can feel the warm air hit you in waves as you travel back to shore. That must have an impact on aircraft, even on a powerful fighter jet.

A different angle shows both engines have the burners lit just before impact. So he either forgot to pull the power coming over the top and was going too fast through the loop, or put them back in for some reason while coming down.