Dayton Air Show: Wingwalker and Pilot killed in crash/fire

Looks like the engine smokes a bit after they roll over. I suppose that could just be the forces involved in it causing that, though. I know aerobatics planes will smoke for that reason sometimes.

I wonder what the deal is with the change in pitch just before the accident?

Really tragic.

 

Yea...... after this, yesterday in Michigan. Four fatalities, C172 rental. PIC was reporting to U S Naval Academy in just days per Detroit-area media.

Michigan plane crash victim was Northfield Twp. firefighter | The Detroit News


One of you frequent posters here commented recently on attempted "turning back to home" or whatever is proper parlance.

 

The pilot was a friend of mine. Charlie always flew in the Flying Circus Airshow right next to my house and was always a friendly presence around the airport. I didn't know Jane that well although I saw her from time to time. Really sucks following on the loss of another few friends last year in a mid air during a BFR.

For anyone wondering, Charlie was a high time pilot with a ton of aerobatic experience. He was a Pitts owner and an Extra300 as well, tons of Stearman time. He was mature and seasoned and the plane was very well maintained so it is a real mystery what went wrong.

 

From repeatedly looking at the fatal Dayton incident it appears that the left wing stalled.

 

I would agree after giving it a few watches. It looks like he had a messy entrance to is inverted pass, flew in a slip and then a high angle of attack and bled off allot of airspeed then the wing dropped.

 

Puff of smoke could have been from going inverted. After watching the video, my first thought was nobody was flying the plane in the last few seconds.

 

Smoke from a radial just means its running, both the inverted oil system and the smoke system can cause little puffs of smoke like that. I wouldn't read anything into engine performance from that little bit of smoke.

Here is Charlie's page from the Flying Circus where he performed each weekend. I am sure they have a few videos of him on the site if you poke around.

Flying Circus Aerodrome - Charlie Schwenker

 

One of those photos is rather disturbing.

 

Just before impact the controls appeared to be; back stick, full left rudder, and right aileron. That close to the ground the back stick confuses me.

 

This happened in my home town. I have attended this air show many times during my life - as recently as 2 years ago with our very young daughter. It was always an enjoyable event, especially since Dayton has a strong connection to aviation.

The general belief is that the left wing experience and aerodynamic stall. This caused a roll, which caused the right wing to also stall. No lift on either wing - plane dropped from the sky.

It is a real tragedy, especially since our poor air show already took a massive hit in attendance due to event cuts forced by sequestration. I believe we were supposed to have the Thunderbirds this year, but they're grounded because of the sequester.

Normal attendance is 70,000 guests. This year, it was about 23,000. For all intents and purposes, the future of the entire show is now in jeopardy, even though the organizers say it will continue.

Our whole city grieves for this tragic turn of events.

 

How much affect from the imbalance caused by the wingwalker sitting on the wing? Also, any chance of the pilot having a sudden medical problem?

 

Here's a video from an "expert" dissecting the final moments. I do not claim any of this expertise as my own, nor can I validate these claims. I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think it was parasitic drag. Just a problem with the angle of attack, perhaps.

Loss of lift may have caused fatal crash | www.daytondailynews.com

 

I agree with this analysis. It you watch at real speed, you can see the aircraft mush in the inverted position just prior to dropping the near side wing. It would appear that the combination of asymmetrical airflow and weight and low airspeed led to a inverted stall at low altitude with tragic consequences.

 

I had the feeling that the pilot was making a rather slow approach to the show line perhaps considering the wing walker. His turn and roll did not appear to be very positive and lacked the crispness required in this kind of transition. Then the roll in front of the crowd was way too slow and the left wing obviously quit rather abruptly. I feel that he lacked the airspeed entering the turn and subsequent maneuvers and everything quit. Really sad to watch.
This kind of thing can happen to the best. I had a friend who flew a 650 HP Stearman with a wing walker and got caught in a powerful downdraft when he was passing the show line and in spite of full power and full forward stick, he hit the runway, killing the wing walker and taking off most of the vertical fin. He managed to establish a climb and roll the airplane over but his wing walker was draped over the the front pit, still connected to a cable. He was able to make a good landing. I called him that evening and he told me that he did everything that he and the airplane was capable of but could not overcome the situation. So, even the best pilots get into that good ol' "coffin corner" in spite of all their efforts. Maybe this is what happened in Dayton.

 

My first impression was that following his initial entry into the inverted position he ended up with a flight path that was going to go right over the crowd, which would be a big no-no. You can see where he is pointed prior to rolling and after the roll. So in trying to reverse the roll AND get the nose pointed away from the show line he inadvertently stalled a wing.

 

Watch some of the YouTube videos of the act as it's supposed to be performed, and you can really see the difference. Maybe he was just off that day, maybe a control cable (tube?) broke... who knows. Either way, he paid the ultimate price.

Watching the videos where the act went correctly, she was a hell of a performer!

RIP.

 

Yeah, so sad. It's obviously still the talk of my community here. Thankfully, nobody on the ground was injured. But, a terrible tragedy and loss of life...

I don't know if anyone here has any aerobatic experience, but if you do, you are a much braver pilot than me......

 

...especially doing it so close to the ground with zero margin for recovery from even a tiny "bobble". Looking at the tape, it seems like one of those things where the law of averages will catch up with you almost inevitably. I, for one, had no idea that these performances were being done so close to the ground.