Dav Law wrote:
Well I totally disagree that the pilot was in anyway
responsible and am disgusted by the comments on rec.aviation,(espe
cially those from anonymous posters, gutless *******s)

If the photographer had been on airport property, had ignored requests
to stay out of the flight path, and if the pilots had been unaware of
the presence of people and vehicles in his flight path, I might see your
point. But, given that the pilots all knew where these people were, and
could easily see them and their vehicles as they approached, it was
criminally stupid of them not to give them a lot more than a few feet of
clearance. This goes way beyond simple like/dislike of low contest
finishes. It shows that some people simply don't give a flying f*ck
about the safety of others, even when all they have at stake is a point
or two in a silly contest.

Marc Ramsey, who is most decidedly non-anonymous, has flown in plenty of
contests, and considers himself lucky never to have met anyone quite so
disgustingly negligent as some of these pilots appear to have been...