Lancaster, about an hour ago, overhead Newcastle at about 1000ft heading for Edinburgh… Also flew over Eshott on the way with a pair of Spits.. (unsure what mark) according to the half dozen phonecalls……..

Seafuryfan, the suggestion was made that the civillian hunter display team were more likely to plummet into the crowd than anyone else, and that civillian pilots are not as well trained as their military counterparts. The fact that the majority of warbird pilots ARE ex-military with thousands of display hours (experience) under their belt seems to have escaped some people… THAT is what I was disagreeing with. I concur that large amounts of hours do not make a good disply pilot, but rather that large amounts of relevant hours (experience) does help.

Accidents happen… it matters not whether it is a military pilot or a civvie at the controls.

Tim, the only rule is that if you post a picture it must have a link to the previous post…. its also a good idea to write a little clue as to what the link is, as some (most) are pretty thin….

Yes… but you’d have to ask them.

……… It’s teams like Team Viper that I would be more worried about, flying expensive to operate jets where it would cost too much to fly together enough to get to an acceptable standard like the Red Arrows.
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Quick question – do you believe that the CAA would give them display authorisation if they were any less competent than the CAA’s standards?

Just added up TV’s hours and it comes to 33000 hours between 5 guys. Anyone care to add up the red arrows flying hours?……

“I have to accept that he (them) know better than a desktop-pilot like me with my only claim to fame is a Me262 kill on Aces High in a Spit XIV!”

DCK – That sums up nicely, humble, but it applies to so many others….. I sincerely hope that the days of ‘wildcard’ display pilots and the incessant Human Factors training have put paid to the more dangerous members of the flying community – lets be honest, there were some who’s self-perceptions of their ability outweighed inability to escape gravity….

Warbird pilots are, to me, THE most highly skilled set of pilots outside of the military. You don’t give your 3 million pound aircraft to someone who is trying to rip its wings off.

It has some very ‘interesting’ corrosion issues….