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Red Arrows aircraft at Bournemouth airport in Dorset.
Red Arrows aircraft at Bournemouth airport in Dorset. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
Red Arrows aircraft at Bournemouth airport in Dorset. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Red Arrows cleared to resume flying after crash that killed pilot

This article is more than 12 years old
RAF team to practise 'eight-ship' flight displays after death of Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging at air show

The Red Arrows plan to perform displays in an eight-aircraft formation after one of their pilots was killed in an air show crash, the RAF said on Thursday.

Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, 33, from Rutland, died when his plane came down near Bournemouth airport, in Dorset, on Saturday after completing a display over the town's seafront.

The world-famous aerobatics team is renowned for its precision routines where nine aircraft fly in a perfect diamond, but it will now begin practising with eight.

The RAF halted flying of all 126 of its Hawk T1 training jets while preliminary investigations were carried out into the cause of the accident. It was confirmed that there were no wider safety concerns about the aircraft, meaning the Red Arrows and the other RAF Hawks could take to the skies again.

Having undergone routine maintenance at Bournemouth airport while they were grounded, the Red Arrows jets will return to their base at RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire, on Friday.

The team will then begin practising flying in "eight ship formation" displays on Tuesday, with the aim of resuming air-show performances. Defence sources arlier suggested it was unlikely they would do any more displays this year, but an RAF spokesman stressed that no decision had been made.

The team regularly practises routines with eight aircraft so that air-show performances can go ahead if one pilot is unable to fly.

An RAF spokesman said: "Having been assured of the airworthiness of the Hawk T1 fleet, the precautionary suspension of flying activity has been lifted and flying operations have been resumed.

"In preparation for the resumption of public displays the Red Arrows will begin flying eight ship formation display practices starting on 30 August.

"Display flying by the Red Arrows team, in an eight ship formation, will recommence subject to a successful period of consolidation and approval to display."

Egging's wife, Emma, watched her husband perform with the Red Arrows just minutes before he crashed and died. Witnesses described seeing the aircraft flying low before smashing into a field and coming to a standstill with its nose in the River Stour near the village of Throop.

The full service inquiry into the crash is expected to last months. Investigators have released no details on initial findings.

The Red Arrows have used the dual control BAE Systems Hawk T1, which has a top speed of Mach 1.2, since 1979. Hawk T1s are also used for training fast-jet pilots at RAF Valley in Anglesey, north Wales, and RAF Leeming, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

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