Rocketman_

I'm in agreement with that statement whether the pilot has children or not. To enjoy the thrills of an air show I don't need to see a pilot fly on the ragged edge of disaster. He just needs to show me his skills at performing difficult and unusual maneuvers without injecting additional dangers into his line of work.

Years ago I saw this couple flying matching aerobatic planes where the husband did a snap roll almost immediately after the wheels left the ground and the wing tip almost contacted the ground. That stunt pissed me off so bad that it was difficult for me to enjoy the rest of their routine. There are just too many variables in weather, wind, temperature, air density, engine performance and pilot reaction time to think that you can cut it that closely 100% of the time. How dare he risk killing himself and ruining the day for thousands of air show fans.

I love air shows and have been attending them since the Thunderbirds flew Republic F-84 Thunderjets and the Blue Angels flew Grumman F9F Panthers trailing blue and red smoke (colored water) from their tip tanks. In all those years I've seen only three incidents, one of which ended in a ball of fire but luckily all the pilots walked away. I think air shows are generally safe until someone decides to push the envelop just a little bit too far .

Sincere condolences to the LeRoy family on the loss of Jim.