Nobody works harder than the organisers of air shows to keep them safe, but the proximity of people and hardware being put through its paces means there is inherent danger in such events.
It's exactly 10 years since Russian pilot Anatoly Kvotchur ejected horizontally moments before his vertically-diving MiG-29 plunged into the grass in front of the chalet line. Like the Sukhoi pilots, he lived to tell the tale.
Tupolev
Other crashes at Paris have included a Tupolev Tu-144 in 1973, and a Convair B-58 Hustler in the 1960s.
Yesterday's crash came just a week after a BAe Hawk 200 crashed at the Slovak International Air Display at Bratislava in Slovakia. BAe test pilot Graham Wardell was killed.
In 1997, a Lockheed Martin F-117A crashed near Baltimore in the USA. The wing broke off while the Nighthawk performed a fly-by.
Pilot Maj Bryan Knight ejected safely, suffering minor injuries. But the aircraft destroyed 10 homes and killed four people on the ground.
The same year a Jordanian air force aerobatic aircraft crashed at a show in Belgium, killing eight spectators.
Perhaps the worst air show accident was at Ramstein AB in Germany in 1988.
Dozens of spectators died when an Aermacchi MB339 of the Italian Frecce Tricolori display team crashed into the crowd.
Source: Flight Daily News
