The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) will not allow its Red Arrows aerobatic display team to fly dynamic manoeuvres at the upcoming Farnborough International Airshow because of the ‘intolerable risk’ to spectators and bystanders on the ground.
Announced to the media on 15 June, the decision to curtail the team’s display routine to just a series of fly-pasts follows in the wake of the Shoreham Airshow disaster in which 11 people were killed and 16 injured when a vintage Hunter jet crashed onto a road outside of the event boundaries.
Speaking to reporters at the Ministry of Defence (MoD’s) Main Building in London, Air Vice-Marshal Andy Turner, head of 22 (Training) Group, said that the Red Arrows would not be able to limit their dynamic display within the confines of the Farnborough show site and in front of the crowd line, and that the increased urbanisation of the town meant that flying the team’s normal routine “is no longer a tolerable risk”.
As the officer ultimately in charge of the Red Arrows, AVM Turner noted that the team’s display footprint typically covers an area of 8 km, with jets crossing at up to 850 kt; 6 m apart; and at just 50 to 100 ft above the tree-line. “We looked at the Reds’ display – the shape, size, and manoeuvres being flown. There are usually no issues [with flying the display] in front of the crowd line [and within the confines of the event], but with the Red Arrows display being so wide and so fluid, [coupled with] the growth of the Farnborough area, meant that we could no longer take the risks. If there were to be an accident, there would surely be multiple third-party casualties, and after Shoreham we are no longer prepared to take that risk,” he said.
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