eddieC

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Very sad day. The pilot and his wing walker died when their 450 Stearman crashed at the Dayton Air Show.

Please, let's not get into debates or conjecture as to the cause. RIP the two performers.

http://youtu.be/1G9SuEufFDs

1320Fastback

Is a shocking video. I am never comfortable at airshows with planes flying this low.
I know they are professionals and do this day I and day out but the price can be high.


Also was a accident at La Mans today that took a life.

Ron Stahl

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Jane was the ex wife of a long time modeler from Virgina, Kirk Wicker. He was first listed as the pilot in command yesterday by NBC news and they got it wrong. I spoke to Kirk by IM last night and he has asked that we not post video or pictures of the accident as his two sons have lost their mother in this tragic accident.

95tequesta

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I was there, prayers sent to all, especially the family and close friends.

Jetdesign

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It is really strange these days with everyone having cameras and the ability to see these accidents in real time. There was the 747 in Afghanistan a matter of weeks ago. Both accidents cleanly captured on camera and posted for the world to see.

It's such a twisted thing - being compelled to watch the videos knowing how terrible it feels to see it. I guess that's me though - mechanical curiosity overrides everything.

eddieC

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The videos are educational to aircrew and help the investigators after the incident. Eyewitness accounts vary wildly, it's good to have the dispassionate view of a video.

1320Fastback

Eyewitnesses are some of the worst at telling what happened.

Look at the recent SFO crash. They were showing the plane on the TV and had more than one eyewitness on at the same time saying the wings broke off and the plane rolled over while its on TV with wings attached and up rite...

chuckk2

It's too early to tell about the S F crash.
At this point there are lots of questions.
Why was the 777's airspeed so low?
Why wasn't additional power applied earlier? jet engines take some time to really spool up to high power.
A couple of seconds just isn't near enough.
Why was the seawall so close to the marked end of the runway?
Four pilots were on board. How many were in the cockpit, and what was the rating of the pilot in the other seat.
According to the news 10,000 hours was about common per pilot.

Then there is the bit about making an approach from the sea. Seems that can play tricks on the pilots perception.
(There is a fairly long history from way back concerning this.)
It sounded to me like the landing pilot might have been used to another aircraft, may have ignored such things as the rate of decent, etc.
and started to feel the problems caused by flying too slow, recognized the problem, but to late.
Why didn't the other pilot take corrective actions? Or call earlier for a go-around?
Was it because the second pilot was lower time in the aircraft, or junior?
There may also be a cultural issue if either is the case.

Another possibility might be that due to favorable winds, the aircraft burned less fuel, or for other reasons, the actual gross weight on landing was higher than planned for. Incorrect date punched into computers might be involved as well.

All we really know from the reports is that the plane was too low, and slow, and corrective action was initiated too late.
Spectators saying that the plane rolled over and the wings came off likely saw the tail assembly coming apart and flying through the air.