Air Show crash at PDK

Emergency response seemed . . . . lacking. Although based on that video I don't think it would matter to the pilot. Other outlets confirm 1 fatality.

 

I used to do annuals at that airport, glad I wasn't there today. I'm certain he perished upon impact in the blink of an eye. RIP

What I found odd was the opposing pilot was still up putting on a show. It would seem he would have seen the black smoke from the burning fuel and knocked it off and landed.

 

I would imagine that the surviving pilot din't see the crash and may have not related the smoke to his partner. I have seen this happen before and he probably was concentrating on his routine and FLYING THE AIRPLANE. Art Scholl wouldn't talk to anyone before his show routine and his head was locked into what he had to do. Iv'e known several others who did the same thing.I can't figure out what happened to the guy that crashed. There was no interruption to the rolling maneuver.

 

I agree with Bob. He was concentrating on his event. No need to blame him for going on. I'm sure he feels horrible.

 

Sure looks like the guy had a medical emergency of some sort and was totally incapacitated.

 

The video I watched was really low quality. The biplane looked like it pulled into a half loop, rolled right side up on the downline, then intentially rolled hard right a second later, which ultimately led to the crash. Why did he roll hard right? Did he realize in that split second on the downline that he was out out of position? Did he see the other plane was out of position? Was the pre flight planning to split right if visual is lost? We may never know. What I'm guessing is that the biplane once on the downline and gaining visual with the other plane, realizes they would collide, and split hard to the right. He may have saved the other pilot. Again, this is a guess. If you pay attention to the other plane, you'll noticed he's rolled left as he enters the screen right before the crash. As he sees the biplane, he actually rolls right. I'm assuming this roll is to avoid hitting the biplane. It would have been easier for him to have just gone left (as he was banked that way already). Anyways, this is all just a guess. I doubt a mechanical issue. The biplane goes hard right, then rolls back to level and seems to try and pull up at the end. Again, hard to tell with that video quality

 

I think Taz has it.

 

Here is the incident in HD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atTSGwDRYa4

No idea what might have occurred but the decent rate of the plane after it gets level with the top of the building seems to increase very dramatically.

-mick

 

Damn horrible we met him at KAND a few years back. A really nice guy and a great pilot, plane. Hate it for them....

 

I was at the show. I had a Super Cub amphibian on static display. Witnessed the crash. I can promise you it's something you would never want to see. Terrible. Was very surreal. Major crosswinds with gusts in the high 20s. Outside of the obvious potential that this was a case of pilot error in misjudging his positioning and failing to recover from the maneuver, the wind issue could easily have been a contributing factor. An unexpected sink rate (for example) induced by a shift in wind conditions (affecting angle of attack) could have made his much practiced maneuver have the tragic outcome it did. Sat for nearly 3 hours staring at the scene and the emergency crews, waiting for the airport to reopen. I was the first aircraft to depart. A beautiful day turned horribly wrong. Remain prayerful for his family and friends.

 

Thanks for the HD link. Something definitely looks strange. I don't believe he was trying to avoid the other aircraft now. Looks like a slight left roll on the down line right before the 90 degree right bank. It's possible the airplane stalled. It looks fully stalled when it hits the ground.

I only do light acro in my Eagle, and nothing low level. I'm by no means an acro expert. One of the first things I did in the Eagle was find out the stalling speed. There isn't a stall warning system installed. Anyways, I found out it stalls at 60mph. That's at 1 G. You have to remember the stall speed increases to the squareroot of the G factor. So at 4 Gs my stall speed is 120. At 6 Gs it's almost 150. I normally pull 4 Gs in a loop. 4 at the bottom on the initial pull and 4 on the other side. I enter at 170, so the initial 4 G pull isn't a problem. The 4 Gs on the other side can be though as you've lost a lot of speed on the way up. With gusty winds, it's possible he stalled, rolled slightly left, then corrected and rolled way right. These airplanes are more or less neutral in stability. And being so short, they can roll easily during a stall if the ball is out just a hair. That would explain the wings going left then right. You can "unload" the wings by pushing forward and losing the G load, but that's not much of an option when you're that close to the ground.

Anyways, just my thoughts. I have no idea what really happened. Just thought I'd share the G factor information. It's something most pilots don't deal with and never think about.

 

I read an interview with the other pilot today and he stated that after that crossing, their routine was to switch to individual maneuvering on their own so he didn't even know he crashed and simply was focused on completing his part of the routine, which is sort of what I figured after seeing it on a computer rather than a phone.

 

Pilot was Greg Connell, 50.

Trenton, SC


Pilot killed in crash during Georgia airshow identified - CBS News