The inevitable risk of entertainment?

On November 12, 2022, six people were killed in a mid-air collision during the Wings Airshow in Dallas, USA. Footage of the two antique planes – a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 King Cobra – colliding was then widely shared on social media, joining other shocking footage from airshows around the world. video files.

As in the aftermath of other aviation disasters, questions have been raised about whether additional safety measures should have been enforced during these events. The way airshows and aerial displays are organized has changed over the years, in part due to lessons learned from past events. One of the most significant events was the Ramstein Airshow disaster in 1988, when three Frecce Tricolori (the aerobatic team of the Italian Air Force) collided, killing 70 people, including three pilots aboard the Aermacchi MB- 339A jet aircraft.

Advice after an airshow disaster

While some have long called for a ban on airshow displays because of their inherent risks, the events have been a staple of aviation-focused events for decades. Still, following the accidental loss of life, some changes were made to at least minimize the risk to everyone attending the airshow.

The same Ramstein airshow disaster led to the airshow being briefly banned in Germany, for example, because additional safety measures were being considered.

“The incident at Ramstein confirmed in a very dire way how dangerous such glasses can be even for civilian observers,” Walter Kolbo, now a member of Germany’s Bundestag, was quoted as saying at the time Associated Press. Germany still has not recovered from the two disasters of the 1980s. The first was when a Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed at an airshow in Mannheim, Germany, killing 46 people on board. The second occurred in 1983 when a CF-104 Starfighter of the Canadian Armed Forces crashed into a highway near Rhine-Main Air Force Base.

In addition to the ban on air shows in Germany, a report of the Defense Committee of the Bundestag to the public dated 29 September 1989 states that flying over spectators is prohibited and air shows such as these are prohibited at events including air shows , is now limited to aircraft demonstrating its flight capabilities. “Difficult or dangerous flight displays should be avoided without exception,” the report reads. It continued: “It is not possible to grant exceptions, and they are strictly prohibited in terms of performance.”

Prosecution After a Disaster

Nearly 14 years after the Ramstein airshow disaster, an even deadlier incident occurred in Lviv, Ukraine. While celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Ukrainian Air Force’s 14th Air Corps, a Su-27 attempted a roll maneuver at dangerously low altitude, causing the aircraft to fly into a crowd.

In the tragic incident in July 2002, 70 people were killed when two pilots ejected. The pair were later blamed for the crash because they failed to “comply with the flight plan and air drill plan,” Yevhen Marchuk, head of the accident investigation, was quoted by the BBC as saying. Attorney General Svyatoslav Piskun added that “negligence” was behind the largest single casualty at the airshow, as he argued that “it can already be said that this is military negligence, a special category of crime”.according to New York TimesIn June 2005, two pilots who were ejected from an out-of-control jet were sentenced to eight and 14 years in prison, respectively.

In April 2018, another Hawker Hunter T7 pilot, Andy Hill, went to court over his role in the Shoreham Airshow crash. The accident happened on August 22, 2015, when the fighter jet crashed into a public road near the airport. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which investigates civil aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom (UK) and its territories, concluded that the crash “the aircraft was performing maneuvers involving pitch and roll At the minimum altitude authorized by the pilot for aerobatics, the aircraft took off at a speed lower than the minimum airspeed specified by the pilot, and at a speed less than the maximum thrust.”

“This resulted in the aircraft attaining an altitude at the top of the maneuver below the minimum altitude required to safely complete the maneuver at a slower than normal speed,” the report continued, adding that while it was still possible to abort the attempted loop, “the pilot did not appear to be aware that the aircraft Too low to complete the downward half maneuver.”

Hill was acquitted of all charges in March 2019.

The AAIB provided a total of 33 safety recommendations to the Civil Aviation Association (CAA) between 2015 and 2017 to ensure proper maintenance of fighter jets, air show safety, including proper risk assessment, crowd and performance separation and maneuvering specifications, etc. Secure future events. The CAA, whose “purpose is to minimize aviation-related risks and our primary concern is the safety of the public, both in the air and on the ground,” introduced changes almost immediately, including restrictions on aerobatic displays.

The Changing Airshow Landscape

Similar to the changes following the Ramstein airshow, CAA’s adjustments to the way these events are organized have affected the UK airshow landscape.

Shortly after the Shoreham disaster, the Royal Air Force (RAF) aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, canceled their aerobatic display, opting to fly only during that year’s Dartmouth Regatta because the CAA was Conducting a “Comprehensive Review of Civil Aviation Showcased in the UK”.

“It has been assessed that the required changes to the height and location of the display would reduce the visual quality of the display to a level unacceptable to the public, and it is therefore regrettable that the Red Arrows will not be on full display at Dartmouth this year August 2015 , a spokesperson for Red Arrows said of the event, which had been scheduled for shortly after the Shoreham accident.

It is worth noting that the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow also did not feature the Red Arrows aerobatics, the aerobatic team only flew in subsequent editions of the event.

Eventually, the trade show organizers announced a five-day event, with the venue only open to the public for one day. “We know that for many, a weekend at the Farnborough International Airshow is a highlight, but after the 2018 airshow, it became clear that this aspect of the show was important in the long run. It’s not commercially viable,” said CEO Gareth Rogers, CEO of Farnborough International in March 2019.

Whether the recent mid-air collision in Dallas will prompt any changes at the FAA remains to be seen. In a briefing with the media, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) committee member Michael Graham said that while we must remember that these are two aircraft built in the 1940s, they do not require a flight data recorder (FDR) or A cockpit voice recorder (CVR), “that’s one of the things we’ll look at in the future,” as one possible suggestion.

Nonetheless, the FAA put together a document Details the regulations during the airshow, including what’s required of pilots, their stunts, and even fly-bys. The government agency lists minimum credentials, as well as restrictions on various stunts depending on the aircraft. Airports also have certain requirements, including ground operations planning guidelines describing aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARF) procedures, crowd areas, and other operations to ensure a safe environment for everyone involved in the event.

Psychological Aspects of Air Shows

When one dissects an airshow, there are many ways people look at why they visit. Whether it’s getting an up-close look at the airport’s machinery, being part of the community, or admiring the pilots’ aerobatic skills, all three are often on display during an airshow.

According to a study titled “An Exploratory Study of the Interaction of Extreme Sports Athletes with Nature: From Well-Being to Pro-Environmental Behavior,” [date]: “Adrenaline sports are not just considered outdoor recreational activities, and errors of mismanagement are most likely to result in accidents or fatalities, but near-danger experiences are an integral part of these sports.”

Exploring why athletes engage in life-threatening activities—written by six researchers and professors and peer-reviewed by two professors of psychology—the study concluded that “participation in extreme sports, while inherently risky, has Psychological benefits, including invoking positive emotions, developing resilience and life coping skills to foster a strong affinity and connection to nature and natural environments.”

However, extreme sports don’t really resemble the jobs of pilots, whether they work for a commercial airline or fly at an air show. Safety is paramount as it still requires some risk.one study Prepared by Sarah-Blythe Ballard of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Victor B. Osorio of the Navy’s 6th Medical Research Group, which examined public health data from airshows between 1993 and 2013 and concluded “Airshow crashes are characterized by a high risk of pilot death during aerobatic displays, but mass casualties are rare”. No time trend was observed throughout the data period, but airshow performers accounted for 59% of airshow-related accidents during the study period.

Still, while mass loss of life is rare, the disastrous events of “Sknyliv and Ramstein” demonstrate that while the threats they pose to audiences are relatively rare, mass casualties are a potential consequence of aerial incidents and should be factored into risk management strategies,” the study noted.

“Mass casualty drills in coordination with local healthcare systems, briefings to airshow participants, and emergency instructions to airshow sponsors may be effective ways to mitigate adverse outcomes in the event of mass casualties,” the study said. concluded.