Due to several airshow accidents in various countries in recent years the aerobatic display at Terracina on the 24th September last year was held over the sea with an exclusion zone for boats. There are several theories as to what happened but Orlandi performed a series of manouvres including loops and may have suffered from some problem. On the last loop he seemed to be taking too long to recover and if he had had another 20 metres or so he very well may have made it. The current theory is that he applied too much throttle at the wrong moment. There was another theory that he may have lost power at a crucial moment.

He was recognised as a highly skilled pilot and had received many awards. Tragically his parents witnessed the crash.

By the way I am not forgetting the engineer Corporal Jonathan Bayliss who was also unable to eject in time.

Peter

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