Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:07 am
Stunt caused fatal airshow crash
A fatal crash at an airshow in West Sussex was probably caused by an unplanned manoeuvre by the World War II fighter plane's pilot, a report found.
Brian Brown, an experienced pilot from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was flying the Hurricane when it crashed at Shoreham Airshow on 15 September 2007.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said Mr Brown had stated he would not be rolling the aircraft.
However, he did roll the privately-owned plane during a mock dogfight.
Although the aircraft's airspeed was adequate, the AAIB report said, its pitch meant it had insufficient height for the stunt to be completed safely.
No evidence of any defect or malfunction that would have contributed to the accident was found in the Hurricane, the report added.
It concluded the crash "probably occurred as a result of the pilot attempting an unplanned rolling manoeuvre" which had not been practised as part of the sequence.
The report recommended the sequence of manoeuvres should be clearly specified in advance of flying displays.
After the accident, Mr Brown's colleagues at the Real Aeroplane Company in Breighton, North Yorkshire, described him as "one of the most experienced Hurricane pilots in the country".
He had been flying the plane for 10 years and had amassed 400 hours' flying time.
Mr Brown had taken part in major air shows around Europe but was not originally due to fly at the event in Shoreham. He volunteered his services due to a shortage of available pilots.
His plane crashed into a field about one-mile north of the airshow.
Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:55 pm
Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:45 pm
Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:44 pm
Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:53 pm
Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:19 pm
warbird1 wrote:Here is a link to the original source report on the AAIB website:
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/for ... ctions.cfm
It's quite an extensive and detailed report, some 45 pages long. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks extremely fascinating.
I'm impressed by the level of detail and research that the AAIB has taken for this accident report. I really wish our NTSB would issue such detailed reports. These days, we're lucky if we get more than a couple of paragraphs on any accident report involving anything other than an airliner with fatalities.
Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:54 pm
warbird1 wrote:Here is a link to the original source report on the AAIB website:
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/for ... ctions.cfm
It's quite an extensive and detailed report, some 45 pages long. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks extremely fascinating.
I'm impressed by the level of detail and research that the AAIB has taken for this accident report. I really wish our NTSB would issue such detailed reports. These days, we're lucky if we get more than a couple of paragraphs on any accident report involving anything other than an airliner with fatalities.
Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:10 pm
JohnH wrote:warbird1 wrote:Here is a link to the original source report on the AAIB website:
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/for ... ctions.cfm
It's quite an extensive and detailed report, some 45 pages long. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks extremely fascinating.
I'm impressed by the level of detail and research that the AAIB has taken for this accident report. I really wish our NTSB would issue such detailed reports. These days, we're lucky if we get more than a couple of paragraphs on any accident report involving anything other than an airliner with fatalities.
I just cant believe as many people were filming this and nobody filmed the crash. I've looked for it. A few seconds of video is worth the 10,000 words in that report. (Im going to read it too).
John
Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:04 am
Wed Oct 21, 2009 3:28 am
51fixer wrote:The CAA seems to like to get detailed whether they need to or not.
Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:06 am
Baldeagle wrote:I spent a couple of months around Brian in the summer of 2005 (my avatar photo was taken in that aircraft during that time), he was a great guy and a very talented pilot, and while I realise that neither of those things will keep you alive sometimes it's still hard to believe he would have a problem doing a roll in the Hurricane, unplanned or not. Very sad in any event.
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Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:32 am
warbird1 wrote:JohnH wrote:warbird1 wrote:Here is a link to the original source report on the AAIB website:
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/for ... ctions.cfm
It's quite an extensive and detailed report, some 45 pages long. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks extremely fascinating.
I'm impressed by the level of detail and research that the AAIB has taken for this accident report. I really wish our NTSB would issue such detailed reports. These days, we're lucky if we get more than a couple of paragraphs on any accident report involving anything other than an airliner with fatalities.
I just cant believe as many people were filming this and nobody filmed the crash. I've looked for it. A few seconds of video is worth the 10,000 words in that report. (Im going to read it too).
John
It actually was filmed quite extensively. Like all aviation crashes involving fatalities, they are usually not made public out of respect to the deceased and their families.
From the report, page 13 :
"Members of the public attending the airshow provided a large number of video and still photography images to the investigation."
Also, if you go to page 15 of the report, it shows a chronological time sequence of the last few seconds prior to impact taken from video capture stills.
Also, right after the crash, somebody posted video footage of the actual crash on youtube. Shortly after, the video was pulled though, and it's no longer there.
Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:35 am
Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:44 am
Ztex wrote:And that video is gone now too...
Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:48 am
Ztex wrote:And that video is gone now too...