![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
You are in: Europe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
|
![]() |
Saturday, 27 July, 2002, 16:41 GMT 17:41 UK
Air show safety in the spotlight
![]() Many of those injured in the Ukraine crash were children
The air show crash in Ukraine on Saturday which killed at least 70 bystanders is likely to raise questions about how spectators can be better protected. Thousands of people had gathered at the Skniliv airfield in Lviv, near the Polish border, when the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet crashed in a ball of flame onto the ground around them.
In the world's worst air show disaster until the crash in Ukraine, about 70 spectators were killed when two Italian jets collided and spiralled into a crowd at a show in Ramstein in Germany in 1988. Forty-six people were killed in 1982 when an American helicopter crashed at a display in Mannheim, also in Germany. A Russian jetliner similar to the Concorde crashed at Le Bourget air show outside Paris in 1973, killing 15 people. Popular events Despite accidents, air shows draw massive crowds. Display pilots, under pressure to put on a dramatic performance, sometimes take extra risks. Air shows rank among the most popular spectator events in some countries, surpassed only by football matches and other big sporting events.
Experts say one of the keys to safety at air shows is keeping spectators away from what they call the "aerobatic box" - the area in which pilots perform their stunts. In the United States this box has to be about 1km (0.6miles) wide and more than 3km (1.8miles) long. Air shows are not the only events where spectators can be in danger, but the scale of the catastrophe in Ukraine will certainly lead to some soul-searching about how to make them safer.
|
![]() |
See also:
![]()
27 Jul 02 | Europe
21 Jul 02 | Country profiles
Internet links:
![]() The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Europe stories now:
![]() ![]() Links to more Europe stories are at the foot of the page.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Links to more Europe stories |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> | To BBC World Service>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |