Originally Posted by
TTRotary
Newer jet pilot here ( and also FS pilot). I concur with the notion that 5 in the air is too many for an event like this. Skill levels vary tremendously, and even more so among spotters. I personally don't see what pilots or spectators get out of a show where there that many planes in the air at once. Better to fly fewer, display quality flights with each plane/pilot having the airspace to show off the plane and the skills. Especially at a jet event where everyone is basically bingo fuel, and managing complex, large, and expensive aircraft. God knows, you'd never see FS doing an airshow like this.
The flyin was for the pilots. We enjoy spectators and their parking fees help support the airport and thus the event in future years, but the pilots are the ones who spend hundreds, if not thousands, to attend, so their desires come first. The pilots who were comfortable flying with 5 planes in the air, did so, those who were not, stayed on the ground until the flight line was less busy.
Most of the time there actually weren't 5 planes in the air, but when there were, it was generally very organized. This crash was a aberration, and as someone pointed out earlier, they couldn't have done this on purpose if they tried.
If you hold a flyin where pilots have to fly during a specific slot, I
*guarantee* it will only happen once, because nobody will come back. the fact that Kentucky Jets draws over 150+ pilots *every year* is a testament to how well it, and its flight line, are run.
Originally Posted by
TTRotary
And it is not as if these are not dangerous aircraft. If the Hawk (or whatever it was) had been 0.5 sec further back than it was, the -16 would have struck it mid-turn with the momentum velocity of the junk/fuel headed towards the pits. I have to assume that since neither pilot nor spotter saw the plane where it was, right in front of them, they would not have seen it further to their left.
This is completely wrong. Both aircraft were flying parallel to the flight line and the safety line.
ALL turns into the direction of the flight line/spectators were made well down wind - as is the rule at Kentucky Jets, presented at
every pilots meeting.
Originally Posted by
TTRotary
I see comments on how good the flightline management was at this event. That's nice but it is irrelevant to what is happening in the air. As any FS knows, you live or die by separation, airspace, and time.
I realize that this seems anathema to these jet-fests, where the pilots all expect and demand air time, and might not attend if they could not get a slot, but that pressure is not worth the ramifications of a serious accident. Our hobby is in enough peril as it is.
I am not pointing fingers here, wasn't there, and understand JOK to be a well-organized event. But when I see and hear that video, I see low-level chaos, leading to a MAC that could have been avoided. Mostly, I feel badly for the pilots and spotters who lost their aircraft in this manner.
Actually, you are. You're implying that a serious accident could happen at Kentucky Jets without being there or admittedly having the experience to know what works on a jet event flight line and what does not.
This mid-air was very unfortunate, but personal safety was never compromised and when ever more than one airplane is in the air, a mid-air can happen.
Bob