Organizers Cite Safety Concerns, Costs

The Red Arrows jet display team normally performs at the Fowey Royal Regatta in south Cornwall, England. But this year, the performance of the team has been cancelled due to "safety concerns," according to the organizers of the show.

The Cornish Guardian newspaper reports that the cancellation was announced following an audit by the Military Aviation Authority determined that there was not enough space for the team to perform above the River Fowey. In a statement, the organizers of the show said the "only means of achieving the safety standard is to move the display out over the sea which simply won't be the same. This has led to a reluctant decision not to host the Red Arrows in 2016."

The BBC reports that the chairman of the Fowey Regatta Committee Malcolm Palin said that moving the event offshore would cause people to walk into fields where there is no vehicle access to view the show. "Also, we would  need to raise enough money to pay for the display while expecting a significant drop in visitor numbers," he said.

The show's organizers did not specifically cite news rules from the government that were put in place following an accident last year in which a Hawker Hunter aircraft participating in an airshow at Shoreham went down on a busy highway, resulting in 11 fatal injuries. It did not appear that the cancellation of the Red Arrows' performance was directly affected by those new rules.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.foweyroyalregatta.co.uk