This story was just breaking as I left for my subsequently cancelled lesson. We had it on the TV at the aero club while waiting for the rain to clear.
The amateur video footage made me think it was highly unlikely anyone could have got out – but one of the guys there seemed to know more suggesting he’d ejected, a ray of hope at the time.
Sadly it has now been confirmed that the pilot (Flt Lt Jon Egging) died in the crash.
I’m no expert, but from the footage I find it hard to believe it could have been anything but a mechanical failure of the plane. The pilot is unquestionably one of the best in the business.
All thoughts are with him and his family.