nh4clo4

My Feedback: (33)

wow, that was the most complete final moments I've seen. It looks like the tab left the mustang well after he was out.

airraptor

My Feedback: (66)

To me looks like wake turbulance, caused high speed stall with onset of a roll. and continued slight roll and stall condition till impact. i do see the trim tab was still on the air frame till rolled upside down. i wonder if a bolt came out of the rod end on the trib tab?

Brad330l

My Feedback: (1)

Not sure about the 'wake/turbulence' but the aircraft DEFIANTLY rolls hard left before any pitch up. Then it starts the right roll.
This is a very revealing video.

My condolences to all involved.

Brad

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

Don't know about stall either, high speed or otherwise. The tailwheel came down early in the sequence, indicating extreme G loading. A stall would have not 'allowed' the high Gs.

It also confirms an earlier pic that I posted: the trim tab did not part immediately. It can plainly be seen halfway thru to roll to inverted, then begins to seperate, then fall off. My guess would be tho: it was in-operatable at the onset, possibly from flutter. But if so: why the leveling, THEN the pull-up?

What seems odd to me: the abrupt left roll to knive edge, followed by what appears to be a correction roll to the right (and level). Only THEN does the abrupt pull-up begin, with the tailwheel coming down at that point

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

The plane was traveling at over 500 MPH when it hit the ground. This was recorded in the planes telemetry.
There is no indication of a stall at any time. The pilot can be seen with his head forward toward the instrument panel. Presumably he is unconsious. I would expect he was after the 11G sudden pull up.

I don't think he was aware of anything after the hi G load..

Brad330l

My Feedback: (1)

You mean abrupt left roll to knife edge ay CorsairJock?

Brad

pimmnz

The abrupt roll left is likely the moment the tab stopped operating, and the elevators went full up. It looks as though the thing almost stalled at that point, hence the start of the roll on the opposite direction. What happens after that is likely the result of the final position of the unconscious pilot and where his body had jammed the stick...
Evan, WB #12.

Rudolph Hart

Perhaps not the tab.On the previous lap you will see the left wingtip stall but not as much and he seems to pick it up quicker.

IL2windhawk

This latest video adds a lot more information to the discussion. Thank you for posting it.

Any thoughts on the reduced aileron authority as a contributor? I see a lot of stall management in rocking of the wings, leading up to the eventual GLOC

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

Yes, I stand corrected

No, I don't think 'reduced aileron authority' was a contributor. But I'll show much lack of knowledge: what is "GLOC"?

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Passing out and going unconscious from high G load.

TimBle

the trim tab may have only fallen off once GG was inverted but if it broke (the retaining mechanisms) it would be ineffective anyway. It may have broken in the bank already.

merlin51

Tom. Great work.

clmooring

I am not a pilot and have never pulled any significant G's in a plane. But yesterday I was leaving a parking lot and clipped a raised median with my car. I was going maybe 5 to 10 miles an hour. I can tell you that for that brief instance while my car passed over the edge of the median I had no control over my limbs. I also rolled a Volkswagen beetle at 50 miles an hour in my distant youth. I can only remember that experience in slow motion. Again absolutely no control over my extremities. One instant I was driving, the next I was a passenger being thrown around inside rolling vehicle.

Then in this video I see what I think looks like the g-force knock the tail wheel loose as control was lost; at what 400+ miles an hour? I can only imagine the forces at work on the pilot in the cock pit.

terrible and my condolences to all those affected by the tragedy.

However, I think the pilot loved what he was doing. I have never been to the reno air races, but I would be there in a heart beat if the opportunity arose.

Motorcycles are risky. But I love riding. I think it is a very similar situation. I hope the fall out does not end this great tradition.

Sport_Pilot

GLOC stands G force Loss Of Consciousness.

Looked to me like the tab quit in the middle of the turn and the pillot leveled out just before he Gloc ed. Then when he passed out the plane rolled right. He may have fought the G loc stopping the roll a couple of times before he passed out completely. But we will never know for sure.

mwunsworth

My Feedback: (13)

Very good video. Hard to watch.

Maybe it is just me but just before he banks hard left I see something fly off. Maybe some of the trim tab separated and then finally comes off during the hard climb?

rickusaf

My Feedback: (19)

Memorial scheduled for Jimmy at Leeward Ranch (about 3 miles from my home) September 30th...no media and must be invite. My sympathy's to the Leeward Family.

prop wash

Yes ,very chilling,and you can see the trim tab depart.Also if you look at the stills when he was inverted,he was leaning full forward just like Hanna was when he woke up in "Voodoo".You can see the plane wobble when he started to level out after the turn.Looks like a gradual plull up but at 450 plus that is very fast.When GG is on the tarmack you can see both trim tabs,but like Cronkite said it was not used.
I still will wait for the final facts to come out but then they[NTSB] does'nt always get it right. Tom

maly43

My Feedback: (39)

Old Fart,

I think it may started here also, comes out better in full screen, at 6:57- 7:00 you can see it appear to start but he eases up on on the stick then finishes the turn, was that the sequence Old Fart. This was at the end of lap 2 duking it out with the Bear. It's like he had some stability problem and had a slight dance with the elevator even on take off. Maybe just my imagination or the way it looks against the back ground.
My whole family -1 was at this race and it was shocking to say the least, one of those is this really happening moments. It seemed like time stood still but when you look back at the videos emergency personel were responding at once. One of the shinning moments, was watching them tow the Huey from the Heratige Trophy section and fueling it up to assist in flying people to the hospitals, truely was able to perform it's service once again and the humanitarian spirit of it's owner/pilot/crew should be noted.

Granpooba

My Feedback: (5)

Trim tabs / boost tabs are SECONDARY flight controls. PRIMARIES should be full operational regardless.

skillet92

At 400+ MPH these planes are at the limit of what they were designed for. ANY failure is critical. And in the case of an elevator control on a plane that already needed additional as the speed picked up, failure would be catastrophic. As in the case of the other one that climbed to 9K before the pilot regained control. Unforchantly GG did not have any spare altitude What is awesome is the plane did not drift 50 or more feet to the right through the loop. And at these speeds that would be easy. Not taking anything away from how bad this is, but it could have been so much worse. Have been and will be praying for all affected by this.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

According to info from telemetry, the positive G's peaked or "spiked" at 22.6 then stayed at 11G's for a few seconds.
AAFO has a message board...that's where I got the above info...

Props4ever

Holy CRAP!!!!, g's went to 22.6, no way he was conscious at that point, i'm 100% convinced that he had passed out soon as his plane took deeper left turn n corrected it n then hell broke lose as he went vertical!, no wonder due to such high Gs being pulled trim tab departed the elevator!, he had no chance at all to do anything as it all happened in split seconds.....

saramos

I was reviewing the Vemio video this evening. There is a audible pop that acompanies the moment of failure, or rather, just after the first visible signs of the failure, which can be accounted for by the distance to the event and the speed of sound. To me, it sounds like a small piece of metal breaking under tension, perhaps a bold or cable or other linkage device. The sound occurs at the end of 7:38 in the regular speed footage, at the end of 7:48 in the slow motion footage, and at about half way through 8:14 in the super slow motion footage.


Scott

Doug Cronkhite

My Feedback: (34)

You can't take any sounds as evidence of anything unfortunately. The airplane at that point is over 1/2 a mile away.