THE organisers of an air show near York plan to sue a rogue pilot who forced the Red Arrows to cancel a display.

Pig farmer Chris Bingham, 35, has been fined £250 with £250 costs for flying an aircraft into an exclusion zone imposed for the aerobatic team's performance at the Yorkshire Airshow at Elvington on August 24 last year.

The RAF team cancelled their display due to safety fears, leaving thousands of spectators angry and disappointed.

Air show organiser Ken Cothliff said he was disappointed with the sentence imposed by York magistrates yesterday. He said the company behind the event, Elvington Events Ltd, would be looking into suing the pilot to recoup the costs of the Red Arrows display that never happened.

"He should have been fined more for endangering the lives of so many people. He was taken to court because what he did was dangerous and stupid and put the lives of many people at risk."

Martin Gowdie, of the Civil Aviation Authority, told the court Bingham had flown near Elvington without permission while there was a temporary restriction on the airspace.

The Red Arrows' display had already been halted by an aircraft, a microlight and a glider, but it was the aircraft flown by Bingham which caused the Red Arrows to abandon the display completely.

He said the airfield had communicated with Bingham, and when he arrived at his destination he had contacted the airfield and the Red Arrows to apologise.

Mr Gowdie said Bingham had been flying when he was told his mother-in-law had suffered a suspected heart attack and been taken to hospital - so he changed his route and headed to Scotland, taking him through the exclusion zone.

He said Bingham was the only pilot who had come forward to apologise for his actions.

"Of the four infringements, the one deemed to be most serious was the microlight, (flown by a different pilot) which came within a very short distance of the Red Arrows," he said.

Bingham, of Ash Lawn, East Lound, Haxey, near Doncaster, who was representing himself, said he had been flying for 14 years and had two children aged three and five.

He said his father owned a light aircraft, which he was allowed to use. On the day of the air show, he had been flying with his father to Bagby, near Thirsk.

"I was aware of the flying restrictions at Elvington.

"It was only as a result of a phone call to my father-in-law that my plans were to change quite drastically," he said.

"If I had been the only aircraft on that day that had infringed the zone it is possible the Red Arrows display would not have been cancelled."

Updated: 13:33 Friday, April 16, 2004