The organisers of the 2015 Shoreham air show, where a jet crashed killing 11 people, were unaware of the pilot’s display plans and failed to carry out a proper risk assessment, an investigation has revealed.
The previous year, the same aircraft's display also infringed the specific conditions of the air show’s permit by flying over busy inhabited areas and yet was not stopped. Investigators concluded that ‘either these regulatory infringements were not detected by the display organisers or were not understood’.
The crash site last year as emergency services surveyed the scene
Andy Hill piloted the 1959 Hawker Hunter last year and survived the crash after the vintage jet fell to ground over the A27 during a rolling manoeuvre.
The final report on the crash last August has not been completed, however the interim review by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is set to shake up the sector with a number of recommendations to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
It found that although the organiser or flying display director (FDD) was well qualified he ‘was not provided with, or was not aware of, the sequence of display manoeuvres’ the pilot planned or told where exactly he intended to perform them.
This meant it 'was not possible for the FDD to identify the specific associated hazards, where the various aerobatic manoeuvres would be conducted, and therefore to determine which groups of people would be exposed to those hazards and to what extent’.
The report also highlights that during the risk assessment ‘there were no site visits and the process did not benefit from local knowledge of the display sites and their surroundings’.
The Shoreham air show organisers said in response: ‘The third Special Bulletin from the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) reflects our assertions that we, as the flying display organisers, complied with the existing Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) CAP 403 regulations. We are confident that we made every effort to follow the CAA’s guidance.
‘Any resulting revisions to air show regulations following this interim bulletin are an issue that must be resolved by the CAA and AAIB. As dialogue continues between these two organisations, we will offer every assistance possible to the ongoing investigation.’
Among the recommendations made to the CAA, the AAIB called for pilots to provide detailed display plans and for more regulations governing the distance between displays and first and secondary crowds.
