ORIGINAL: timothy thompson
yes in 1942 not 2007. Unless you have a 100% new airframe its a big risk. There has to be a reason all these are happening this year. People are no longer happy watching flybys they want to see someone risk his life . Airshow attendance has declined linearly over the years. Kids are no longer interested and in school they are more interested in getting dates than learning them.
20 years ago every town had some type of show not anymore
Most airshow related incidents this year have been non-warbird types, meaning the age of the aircraft has nothing to do with it. None of the incidents at Reno this year involved vintage types. I've been going to airshows for a long time as well and, quite honestly, the flying I see done today is much more subdued than it was 10 or 20 years ago in most cases. The people who own, operate, and restore these airplanes are not stupid and are fully aware of the rising value of the aircraft and so accordingly are much less likely to risk that investment doing something dumb. I think if you look through the records you will find that there were substantially more warbird related accident in the '70s and '80s then there are now. Maintenance and pilot proficiency have improved dramatically and, despite the age of the aircraft, warbird operations are much safer now than they were then. My .02 cents worth.