This is not the first time I've heard of such a tragedy at an air show. I think they do some rather spectacular and dangerous maneuvers because.. well, it's a show. I don't think the military takes these kinds of risks. Of course they have other worse combat risks, but they don't seem to show off.
I live in a rural area about 200 miles inland from a naval air base in Virginia. Being in such a low population density, I'm right under their training flight path (I guess that's why they're overhead all the time), and other than flying low, I've never seen them do anything that seems particularly risky. There may be four or five planes at a time, but they don't fly in close formation. I assume they are chasing each other, but that's only a guess. They usually seem separated by a mile at least and usually way more than that. Of course, they are flying over 600 miles per hour so a mile may not be much. But they are always low, like under the radar low, and I'm in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are not spectacularly high, but it's not even close to flat. I don't know if they are constantly making elevation changes, but they are low and traveling fast enough that you don't hear them coming until their right on top of you, and then they're gone. However, I doubt that military pilot training calls for the acrobatics involved in air shows. And I haven't seen any pilot trying to act like Tom Cruise yet. I'm pretty sure it would end a career in a hurry, even if he/she didn't crash.
