U.K. authorities believe that they have accurately identified the 11 victims of the Shoreham air show crash. An ex-military pilot, who had been flying in air shows for many years, crashed onto a nearby road. The fiery explosions from the crash engulfed cars driving by as well as air show spectators. While 11 people have been confirmed dead, some authorities still believe that number may rise as more could be discovered.
This incident was not the only airplane accident this month. Three weeks earlier, at a garden party hosted by Chris Evans, a stunt pilot nosedived into the ground. The day after the Shoreham air show crash, two planes in an air show in Switzerland collided in midair. Luckily, there were no bystander casualties in either of these events.
These crashes are just a few of the many air show disasters recorded across the globe over the years. In Ukraine in 2002, a plane crash in the middle of a crowd of 10,000 killed 77 and injured 543. 1988 in Germany, 70 people were killed by fiery debris raining from the sky after two jets crashed into each other over a crowd. In 2000, during a recreation of the Battle of Britain, a pilot died when he was unable to pull himself out of a nosedive into the English Channel. The show continued on two hours later.
The cause of this most recent crash in Shoreham is unknown at this time. The fact is that air shows can be extremely dangerous, but every summer they come back, and every summer there is some tragedy that could have been avoided.