Hawker Hunter crash at Airshow.

I personally think the CAA reacted to the media in the worst way possible.
Instead if re-assuring the non aviation-informed public that vintage aircraft ARE maintained to the same standard as most other aircraft, they told the public it will be 'reviewed'.

The restrictions placed on vintage jets flying aerobatic manouvers over land is understandable, but lets hope there is a long term solution and that is only temporary.

As others have said, many aircraft in every day service are much older than the Hunter in question, with many many more hours on the clock.
Structural issues/corrosion can be brought on by age, but in terms of other systems, age should not matter if it meets the standard set.

I know of a fleet of civil registered aircraft built in the 60's-70's still flying many many hours a month in very regular use.

Plus when you talk about aviation safety and vintage jets, no-one points out how dangerous puddle jumpers are with a PPL pilot on board. The AAIB staff always tell me that a tour of their hangars would put most off of a single-engine puddle jumper for life.

According to the press the AAIB have stated that there was nothing mechanically wrong with this aircraft.

They may be reporting that, but that's not quite what the AAIB preliminary Special Bulletin actually says...

Engineering Investigation

Recorded data

The aircraft was not fitted with a flight recorder and no flight path information was recovered from the aircraft GPS.

Two image recording cameras were mounted within the cockpit. One was located on the aft cockpit bulkhead between the two seats, giving a partial view of the pilot and instrument panel, and a view through the cockpit canopy and windscreen. To date no abnormal indications have been identified. Throughout the flight, the aircraft appeared to be responding to the pilot’s control inputs. The other video camera was mounted at the base of the windscreen, looking over the nose.

Cockpit imagery is being analysed to help understand the final manoeuvre in more detail and to provide system status information.

Pre-flight technical activity

The aircraft was operated on a CAA-issued Permit to Fly and its current Certificate of Validity was valid until 10 March 2016. There were no technical defects recorded in the aircraft Technical Log.

The aircraft and its two under-wing tanks were fully fuelled before the flight. Ground crew reported that the pre-flight checks and engine start were normal and that the safety pins for the pilot’s ejection seat had been removed and placed in the stowage provided prior to departure to arm the seat and its associated systems.

The full bulletin can be read here:
assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/med...c/S3-2015_G-BXFI.pdf

Why did it have to be fully fuelled to do a brief display. Maybe it was going on somewhere else after, but surely it could have landed then re-fuelled.

Fuelled at North Weald prior to planned displays at a number of different shows that day I'm led to believe.

airfields wrote:

Why did it have to be fully fuelled to do a brief display. Maybe it was going on somewhere else after, but surely it could have landed then re-fuelled.

Bournemouth was also on the agenda for a display that day, so i understand. So consider transit flights between venues, the hunter holding for its display slot etc . Why the aircraft is fully fuelled starts to be better understood.