Just on a side note, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the airshow disaster at the USAF base in Ramstein, Germany.3 Italian pilots and 70 civilians lost their lives when 3 gnats of the Italian Air Display team Frecce Tricolori collided whilst performing the "pierced-heart" manoeuver. One of the gnats crashed into the huge audience of spectators, spewing an 800 litre fireball and hot metal debris everywhere, injuring 450.The day after the disaster, the German Ministry of Defence banned all risky airshow manoeuvres and stopped aircraft performing directly over the audience. Seems like a very good idea to me.

I truly remember that. It occured one year after I left Germany, where my wife worked as the Chief Controller at Ramstein AB Tower. So the year before that show I got to watch from the top of the tower cab and it was pretty amazing. Of course, the concept behind the "crowd line" wasn't new but it just wasn't in common use in Europe at that time. It's not the "risky maneuvers" that were to blame but the lack of a crowd line to keep the show away from over the crowds. This is a very good idea indeed, and is now strictly enforced at all air exhibitions in the US.PS: Please sign your name in this forum.

Oh yes, sorry Dan, I completely forgot to sign this time.EdEDDF

In fact the catastrophe happened today, August 28th. As well as the fatalities, some 350 victims suffered serious injuries requiring hospitalization, with some 1,000 people injured in total. There is footage in Youtube of the carnage and the chaos of the aftermath. Horrifying.T.

Since this day military air shows are forbidden in Germany.A bit of an overreaction if you ask me.Karsten

You think so?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airshow_accidentsIn any case, airshows are permitted - see the ILA in Berlin for example, but very restricted. The kind of split formation manoeuvres with jet aircraft shown in Ramstein are forbidden for safety reasons.TomEDDL, Germany