Super08

My Feedback: (2)

The tailwheel came down from G force at pitch up. He was conscious all the way to the ground and talking on the radio. Loss of the tab caused the pitch up from reports and excessive G and stick forces. Read the thread on the other site for big models for more info. His age had nothing to do with anything. It sounds like he was trying to steer the plane away from the crowd all the way down. I cannot begin to imagine the stick and G forces he was fighting on the way down trying to save lives.

Mustang51

My Feedback: (25)

Ide get in a plane any day of the week with Chuck Yeager, Bob Hoover, or any one of their qualified contemporaries and we all know their age. That also goes for the older comercial drivers. If theyve been qualified, Ill take their experience every time.

As for the comment about the pilots flight skills saving lives and him being a hero?
Please!!! The mans plane broke. It went straight up, then came almost straight down into the crowed. You cant see the pilot in the pictures because he was probably pinned down bent forward from the gs or passed out. Either way he lost control of the ship(not a fault of his and I dont blame him) and crashed into the crowed. Hows that being a hero? Time we stopped "watering down" the true meaning of the word "hero" in this country and reserve it for the deserving.
I dont mean ANY disrespect to the pilot what so ever. When youre doing 400+ mph a few hundred feet of the deck, im sure even the best, youngest pilot cant think that fast.

uncljoe

My Feedback: (8)

Mustang... I agree with everything you say . IMO, The word hero has become meaningless .
Semper Fi
Joe

DeferredDefect

More bad news, guys.

rcphotog

Here is a little historical perspective. All photos are copyright Don Dawson. I just made the collage.
Ken

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I listened to the home video of the crash and the announcer clearly asks everyone to NOT to move, no doubt to allow that first response access.

I too wonder why Jimmy is not visible through the canopy, and why the tail wheel is down, although G forces may be the cause for both. The missing trim tab is very serious at those speeds and may prove to be very significant in the final analysis.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

It doesn't look good for the pilot, from this picture. So sad. What a horrific year for air shows this year.

Tommygun

My Feedback: (2)

Both of these accidents are very sad. Terrible loss of life. Hopefully though, it doesn't lead to legislation banning these types of events due to more safety police interference. What I find really disgusting was the comments posted on Yahoo's article about the crash. Lot's of heartless, anonymous punks spewing hate just for fun, it's just awful.

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

Might have been initial response, but I also heard (on video) announcer telling everybody to leave, show was over. I also witnessed (on video) a uniformed policeman moving people away, telling them to leave. These were people who were a considerble distance from the crash, and peolple who were not moving towards the crash. Appears to me that authorities wanted the entire area cleared of spectaotors ASAP.

Mustang51

My Feedback: (25)

Honored to be backed up by a hard chargn' Devil Dog Joe.

Speedy-Gonzales

My Feedback: (202)

" life is a daily,minute by minute, death defying act "

Think about that when you are fortunate enough to wake up in the morning. There are no guarantees in this world. It is sad these people died along with the pilot but they all died doing something they loved.

".........like a thief in the night...........in the twinkling of an eye"

My deepest heart felt condolences to all the victims and their families.

"Speedy"
Dennis L. Wann
Bryan,OH

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I must admit, I haven't seen or heard all the coverage yet. For the first time first responders at Reno have had to handle such a catastrophe, I'm sure they did their best.

The death toll has climbed to (9) last I heard, but from descriptions of the carnage, sounds like just a few more feet and it could have been much worse even.

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

The reports of the elevator trim tab causing the crash make no sense to me because the main elevator would have easily overcome its loss, I think! I wonder if the whole elevator was fluttering and about to come apart which made the elevator unresponsive. I don't fly my rc planes at 500mph so I'm not sure about this theory but would like to hear some input on this,

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

An NTSB rep. commented about how the loss of a trim tab at that speed would have increased pressure to the controls, but I also saw other parts coming off of that side of the elevator. At those speeds and in those tight turns, this would all be a critical issue to deal with, it would seem. As he drifted wide in the turn and over the dead line, he would have been trying even harder to pull it back. More Gs and more stress on everything.

He had cut 5' off each wing, and reduced the length of the ailerons to a mere 32" or so. Not much to work with at slower speeds, such as he was dealing with at the end.

Perhaps some parameters for airframe design and modification, based on speed, will be the end result of all this, similar to the auto racing community. All this in the interest of safety.

I am confident that the experts will sort this out and come to a reasonably good understanding of what happened. Hopefully what they learn can save other pilots and spectators in the future.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

I went back and reviewed a bunch of clips. I really doubt the reports I read of him fighting it to the ground. Everything in the vids and pictures point to him blacking out from the extreme G force. In the end no matter what happened it is very unfortunate for all that were effected by this.

Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

I heard that he was on the radio till the very end, but it's all different reports right now.. I look forward to reading NTSB's report and getting all the facts...

Mustang51

My Feedback: (25)

Ahh yes, the facts. Lets not confuse the issue with the facts.

Veltro

My Feedback: (1)

As was mentioned over on WIX, Bob Hanna lost a trim tab at Reno in 1998 and the Mustang immediately launched upward at 10 G. Bob regained consciousness at 9,000 feet!

I think the same thing happened here, only Jimmy didn't regain consciousness. One of the photos on the Reno Gazette website clearly shows the Galloping Ghost inverted with the pilot's helmet against the instrument panel. Eye witnesses also report that the plane went in at full throttle. A pilot with Jimmy's qualifications would have instinctively pulled the power back.

I imagine the plane had onboard telemetry that his crew was monitoring (and recording) back in the pits. That should answer some questions, too.

http://www.warbird.com/voodoo.html

kx250f

I witnessed this from the top row of the section B bleachers. It was a violent, uncommanded pitch up at a very high speed. I don't see how any human being could have gone through that initial pitch up without blacking out. Unlike Bob Hannah's case, Mr. Leeward didn't have the luxury of winding up at 9,000 ft to regain consciousness. My humble opinion. That's enough speculation on my part, I trust the proper authorities will piece this together to the best of their abilities in due time. Bless all those involved.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Good points guys. The investigation may yield other facts, but these early and eyewitness observations are very telling.

timjkanson

My buddy was at the air show, the plane actually crashed right in front of them, him and his family were far enough back that they were unharmed. very tragic news that this happened

MetallicaJunkie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwCUhw5Gn_4 very sad year regarding airshow fatalities

Doug Cronkhite

My Feedback: (34)

The trim tab failing can absolutely cause what happened. There are 2 tabs on the elevator of a P-51, the pitch trim tab, and a control boost tab. The trim tab coming off could have damaged the boost tab, instigated flutter, or any number of things. Likely what happened is, the trim tab failed, the boost tab went full down, driving the elevator full up. At those speeds, that would create 12 - 14G of pitch up almost instantly, which will put ANYONE to sleep regardless of age. That amount of G also probably overcame the tailwheel up-lock mechanism causing it to extend.

perttime

... If he could get his hand on the throttle control.

In the Voodoo incident in '98, Bob Hanna woke up at 9,000 feet and then struggled to get his hand on the control to reduce power. This time, the time and altitude weren't available.

Oberst

Wrong!!!!!!

It means a lot to me. All Hero's are dead and he knew he was going to die, and he did everything possible to avoid crashing right into the crowd. Witnesses say he jerked the plane the last second to just miss hitting people. Because of his actions, less people are going to be killed because of his heroic action.


Every pilot who stays with their plane when they've lost control to the very end , sacrificing him or herself to save others is a hero. I was taught to do that in flight school. If my plane was going down and I was near a populated area, I'd stay with it and wouldn't bail until I knew for sure the plane would clear.


When Jim pulled up and the plane flipped, he could have bailed, but he chose to fight it right to the bitter end, saving lives in the process. To me he is a hero. No doubt about it. As a full scale pilot, I will always remember Jim.

I'm thinking those who don't think he is a hero better look up the definition. If you are too lazy I'll link it up for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero


Pete


Pete