The qualifying criteria from their website: All nine Red Arrows display pilots are fast jet pilots from frontline Royal Air Force squadrons. Once they have finished their three-year tour with the Team they will return to their Royal Air Force duties. To apply for selection to the Team, pilots must first meet certain criteria: They must have a minimum of 1,500 flying hours. They must have completed a frontline tour. Be assessed as being above average in their flying role. Hardly just a **** who flew a plane and made shapes.
So... If I be perfectly honest here, when I first seen the news report and seen people calling him a hero, my first reaction was "why is he a hero? because he was a stunt pilot and now he is dead? - are all stunt pilots still alive operating at the same level of heroics or is it the act of death which elevates that position?" - I was however remaining open minded and maybe accepted that he could be considered a hero by some, after learning that he served his country in Afghanistan.
He's cleary had enough of mopey ****s like you to comment, not about someone who died flying a plane with pretty colours coming out the back of it.
You are entitled to your opinion but you talk **** The fact that he stayed at the controls thus avoiding housing, a shopping centre and a near by children's adventure park which cost him his life makes him a hero. If he had bailed out i expect you would be calling him a coward. Perhaps you have not done anything exciting in your life and a tad jealous. The Red Arrows have given millions of people a lot of pleasure if you don't like them then just stay out of a thread about them simples
This. He's not a hero in the fact he just flew a stunt plane, but he risked his own life to avoid crashing into residential houses and killing many others. And lost it, unfortunately, since he couldn't get out in time. Something I imagine that Thomas The Cat would never do, the ****ing coward. Plus, they were cool. I live 2 minutes away from their base, and as a kid saw them flying over all the time, and still do when I'm back home. To see one crash, one pilot die, and the entire fleet to be grounded with people having no clue what's going to happen to them is a bit gutting, to be honest.
The fact that the guy sacrificed himself, rather than have a pilotless plane fly towards numerous busy locations, makes him a hero. The fact that he served his country adds to that.
hitler served his country too the guy was pilot, and died doing stupid ****, blowing pretty smoke out of a million pound plane, paid from the defense budget ie taxes i bet. good to know my hard earned is being put to good use