Crash at Shoreham Air show
Discussion
ClaphamGT3 said:
A difficult one. On one hand, he was tried and found to be innocent. As such, why shouldn't he have his pilot's licence reinstated, provided he is medically fit and meets the requirements of the CAA.
Well......can he be ever declared medically fit to be allowed to fly again?I'd say there's not much chance of that, given his whole defense was based on the cognitive impairment theory, so based on that, I'd venture he's never going to be declared medically fit, as *if* he did suffer some form of cognitive impairment <cough> that caused him to crash the Hunter rather than piss poor flying, no doctor can say that he couldn't have another episode, even flying a spam can.
The fact he's trying to fly again, just shows what an arrogant tosser he is.
Gareth79 said:
If somebody killed 11 people in a crash and the circumstances were never adequately explained but in many people's opinion gross negligence on the part of the driver, yes we should ban them for life.
Furthermore, banning somebody from flying recreationally is far less of an impact than banning somebody from driving, although even then a lifetime ban will not affect anybody greatly, after perhaps one house move to be closer to a town if necessary.
I think in general victim's families have just seen his actions as sort of sociopathic.
Speaking personally, if I’d killed 11 people (or even one person) in a car crash through my own negligence, there wouldn’t be any discussions in court about lengths of driving bans. I’d not be driving again and my licence would be voluntarily handed back the next day. Quite possibly followed by some more, err, terminal activity, as I could never, ever live with myself if I killed someone.Furthermore, banning somebody from flying recreationally is far less of an impact than banning somebody from driving, although even then a lifetime ban will not affect anybody greatly, after perhaps one house move to be closer to a town if necessary.
I think in general victim's families have just seen his actions as sort of sociopathic.
Edited by Gareth79 on Wednesday 27th December 11:27
Milkyway said:
My son was at Bournemouth watching the air display that day.
But, It must be like the 9 / 11 ‘close shavers’... missed / changed their flight, got stuck in traffic or overslept etc.
I know I missed it by a couple of minutes.But, It must be like the 9 / 11 ‘close shavers’... missed / changed their flight, got stuck in traffic or overslept etc.
I'd been playing golf in Lewes and drove home to Worthing. I've spent hours mentally piecing together known knowns - what time I left the golf club, when I called my wife to say I'd hit the queue at the lights and when I got home. Minutes. I tell Mrs J 5 minutes but I know it was closer.
There was an awful lot of panicked phone calls from golf mates that day. Not helped by me going out once I arrived home and leaving my phone at home!
My only further point is that this man showed very little other than trying to say it was not his fault when there was a stack of evidence saying it was, and therefore I do not think he carries this disaster or grief with him as much as one might think.
Unless he is staggeringly selfish he must have been aware of the outpouring of scorn this would attract, and regardless of if it is Sun fishing or not, I hope the reaction makes him think about his potential move.
He is clearly an intelligent man or he would not be a pilot, so why not try and pursue something else in what is left of his working life he is nearly 60 for goodness sake! I do not wish to see anyone suffer, but to try and get back into a career where you single handedly destroyed many lives and it is still not clear if you were not the main reason why so, seems oddly ignorant, utterly selfish and not a little bit provocative tom be honest.
Unless he is staggeringly selfish he must have been aware of the outpouring of scorn this would attract, and regardless of if it is Sun fishing or not, I hope the reaction makes him think about his potential move.
He is clearly an intelligent man or he would not be a pilot, so why not try and pursue something else in what is left of his working life he is nearly 60 for goodness sake! I do not wish to see anyone suffer, but to try and get back into a career where you single handedly destroyed many lives and it is still not clear if you were not the main reason why so, seems oddly ignorant, utterly selfish and not a little bit provocative tom be honest.
Milkyway said:
But the pilot will carry that burden with him for ever & a day.
He seems entirely unencumbered by any burden.The turning to my son's school is at that junction - I've sat at those lights many times on a Saturday morning and returned via that junction with him on board.... he was on his school holidays on the day of the crash. His school held a memorial service for the victims in the chapel.
A dreadful day. He should never fly again. Many think he should be in prison for his 'exceptionally bad' flying and the fact that people were 'unlawfully killed'. Expressions used by the coroner.
NDA said:
He seems entirely unencumbered by any burden.
The turning to my son's school is at that junction - I've sat at those lights many times on a Saturday morning and returned via that junction with him on board.... he was on his school holidays on the day of the crash. His school held a memorial service for the victims in the chapel.
A dreadful day. He should never fly again. Many think he should be in prison for his 'exceptionally bad' flying and the fact that people were 'unlawfully killed'. Expressions used by the coroner.
A good summary.The turning to my son's school is at that junction - I've sat at those lights many times on a Saturday morning and returned via that junction with him on board.... he was on his school holidays on the day of the crash. His school held a memorial service for the victims in the chapel.
A dreadful day. He should never fly again. Many think he should be in prison for his 'exceptionally bad' flying and the fact that people were 'unlawfully killed'. Expressions used by the coroner.
zarjaz1991 said:
I really don’t understand why he wants to do this.
Just quietly disappear FFS. Know when to quit.
I hope he gets told where to take this idea.
He should be extraordinarily grateful for his life, sorry for what he has done and ashamed of his actions that day. He should exit stage left and get the f**k away from ever flying again.Just quietly disappear FFS. Know when to quit.
I hope he gets told where to take this idea.
Mr_J said:
I know I missed it by a couple of minutes.
I'd been playing golf in Lewes and drove home to Worthing. I've spent hours mentally piecing together known knowns - what time I left the golf club, when I called my wife to say I'd hit the queue at the lights and when I got home. Minutes. I tell Mrs J 5 minutes but I know it was closer.
There was an awful lot of panicked phone calls from golf mates that day. Not helped by me going out once I arrived home and leaving my phone at home!
I'd gone through the junction in the other direction, heading to Burgess Hill about 20 minutes before the crash. Locals will know that the usual set up for entering the airshow from the A27 was to block off the right turn into the airport for eastbound traffic, sending it to the next exit just past the airport & routing back onto the A27 westbound where there is a filter lane to the airport. That way, traffic from the west keeps flowing. That year, they allowed the right turn to be used & consequently, it took ten minutes or so to get from Lancing to the airport junction. I think about that a lot, if I'd have set off a few minutes later for any reason, things could have been very different.I'd been playing golf in Lewes and drove home to Worthing. I've spent hours mentally piecing together known knowns - what time I left the golf club, when I called my wife to say I'd hit the queue at the lights and when I got home. Minutes. I tell Mrs J 5 minutes but I know it was closer.
There was an awful lot of panicked phone calls from golf mates that day. Not helped by me going out once I arrived home and leaving my phone at home!
As an aside, at the time, I had an office at the airport & although not involved in aviation, I know lots of pilots there & flying is nothing if not a gossipy old world. What I heard in the aftermath was there's a one upping, macho culture among display pilots & this guy had a reputation for pushing things to the extent that the other one upping, macho display guys felt uncomfortable about him. Take that how you want, it was just what was floating about the offices at the time.
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