California air show accident

[pdw]

...I don't know what agreement or arrangements he had made for crash fire rescue, so I can't comment that, but for the couple of times when I have done ground testing which had a fire risk, I had prearranged to have the fire truck right there, and briefed as to what was happening.

Seeing manned fire equipment ready and near (on the checklist) can't hurt anything.

[AirFrame]

I doubt that the Stearman was designed nor certified for integrity and egress after inverted crashes (as other newer aircraft are).

The stock Stearman had an open cockpit, that the pilot could have egressed himself from. This aircraft had a closed cockpit of an odd design that required a panel on top of the cockpit to flip up... I'm still not sure why that design was chosen over a more conventional slider.

Modern aircraft... Like the MX or Extra, that have canopies that "tip over" using a hinge down one side? You'd be just as trapped.

Pilots doing these things and dying, and then people getting sued later, when the original stunt was not needed anyway, just spoils aviation as a whole.

By that reasoning, airshows en masse should be banned, because none of the manoeuvers there are "needed". And in that case, there's no point in having aerobatic aircraft at all, because those manoeuvers aren't "needed" either. Same for private pilots, motorcycles, Porsche's... A simple state-owned factory could churn out a simple car that would do everything people "needed".

[Colonel Sanders]

We should ban NASCAR races as well. After
500 miles, they end up at exactly the same place
that they start!

Save all that fuel. Don't beat the hell out of
the cars. All the drunks that showed up to
tailgate are passed out unconscious and would
never notice if you just played some loud
engine noise over the PA system.

[5x5]

I read PilotDar's comment not as an indictment of airshows but rather disgust with the litigious nature of today's society. Especially when the accident happened during a very high risk activity.