Reno Air Race Crash

I'm stumped on this, perhaps somebody could explain: The impact was dry, typically aircraft that have augered in leave a massive fireball and black fuel/oil smoke. Not the case here (thankfully, despite tragedy)

 

More than likely the fuel system has been modified with racing fuel cell bladders made of ballistic materials and filled with foam to help keep fuel at the pickup as fuel starvation at these speeds and altitudes can have deadly results.

About the only thing that remains from an original Mustang is its basic shape and model designation.

 

Wow.

Condolences to all affected.

 

I read on another aviation forum that he may have bumped the rear gear handle on the left side of the console as / when he blacked out. I dont know anything about these aircraft, but the context of the conversation indicated there are main and rear gear handles ???

very sad, thoughts, prayers for all involved and touched by this.

 

Thank you also, Sir, for your excellent explanation. In the end, it will, in all probability, be a combination of multiple factors.

 

A quote from the article:

"The disaster prompted renewed calls for race organizers to consider ending the event because of the dangers."

I knew this would be coming fast and furious. Why are there some individuals that can't see to comprehend that some endeavors are inherently dangerous and nothing, absolutely nothing, can be done to make them completely safe. If these aforementioned individuals want to live without any danger, let them stay hermetically sealed in their homes and leave the rest of us alone.

 

There's a pretty good article in the LA Times this morning about some of the injured. We often just read that there are "50 injured" and don't think about the consequences or what those injuries are. When you find out the details, your heart just cries out for them.

I think it's important to remember how many lives were touched by this tragedy. 9 people lost their lives -- many others have a long road ahead of them.

 

If you're someone who makes your kid wear a helmet while riding a tricycle in your driveway, there is probably no acceptable risk anywhere.

 

Great point, as always, Bob.

By way of example, one of the victims who was killed was identified as 22-year-old Michael Wogan of Phoenix, who suffered from Muscular Dystrophy, and was in a wheelchair the VIP section when the plane crashed. His father, Bill, lost an eye and some fingers and sustained serious facial injuries.

EDIT:

Bob, I can tell from your posts, that you are a very kind, compassionate, and caring man. The world is a better place with people like you in it.

 

This is true...the images seem almost unreal, more like a movie. The more I hear about the reality of the situation, the clearer the human element becomes. Some lives were changed dramatically, and it's tough to think about. Even the uninjured had to witness something you typically don't see unless you have been in combat or spent time on an EMS crew, and that can be difficult to forget. Hopefully, all who are in a delicate stage right now, physically or mentally, will pull through and find a way to go on. A lot of people are feeling for them right now.

 

The races started in the early sixties, since the start 22 people have died at the reno air races. The event organizers always use the same press release when a pilot dies " They were doing what they loved and understand the dangers"

This year it is different because the spectators were killed and injured.

After this years tragedy I doubt the event planners will be able to get insurance.

 

Leeward is from Florida, but the Ghost went together here at my airport a year or so ago. You could find him around here often, bouncing hangar to hangar or tearing up the place in one or another P51. I just watched the engine being run up on the test stand at dusk on 8/31/2011 as it was being prepped for Reno. It was a work of art, and it made one of the most powerful and awesome ground pounding sounds you could ever hear this side of a Saturn V rocket. 11,000 parts go into one of those amazing machines. Beautiful.

The enthusiasm for this project was infectious around here. The crew members based here are all highly skilled dedicated craftsmen and the nicest bunch. They live for this stuff and they were very excited to be going to Reno this year after their disappointment with the Ghost last year when the race was cancelled due to high winds. They knew they could take the race then and they were ready again this year to prove it.

My heart goes out to the Leeward family, the crew, those spectators who were there to be thrilled and entertained but were injured or lost their lives.

I am sure much will change as a result of this sad event, but I sure hope the guys who dedicate their lives to these airplanes and to airplane racing don't change. Sad, sad, sad...

Here's the live feed for the event. The optimism and excitement in the announcer's voices as he introduces 177 puts a lump in your throat...

http://www.livestream.com/loadedtv/video?clipId=pla_b2efcd7d-ed04-4edf-89e8-f21ff436ccb4&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

177 Introduced
30:10 minutes

Crash
39:20 minutes
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The racers will race, but maybe it will have to become a spectator-free event, shown only on television?

Or they'll put the grandstands so far away that you might as well be watching on television!

 

Glen, thank you for taking the time to post this. He must have been an amazing man to know, personally.

This is exactly what I was thinking.

 

OMG that's horrible to watch.

 

Sound went away about halfway through.

 

I wonder if that was intentional.

 

Very sad

 

As Chupa and Scott say, Bob's point is really the key to understanding the scope and cost of tragedy of this event. It affects not only the people that lost their lives, but their families. And then we must not for get all those maimed and injured who will deal with this for the rest of their lives, as well as their families.

A pebble dropped in the still water pond, with waves that reach the distant shore. It 's very much we have often become a bit numbed by mass media news of large numbers of casualties from our wars, but they, too, spread out, and impact lives all around them.

As everyone who has been close to an airshow, or even aircraft ownership, knows - it's not the FAA who solely constrain what happens, it's the insurance companies. They see this all as a business; and like the waves in the same pond, everyone connected with aviation is going to feel this in their wallet and in new regulations. The insurers will have to pay for all of the claims and legal actions that will for sure arise, and the government will be under pressure from it's rabble-roused constituency to do something.

I am so very sad for the innocents killed and injured-- and know the waves have only begun to spread across the pond for them, their loved ones. Ultimately, the waves will touch many of us personally.

 

As some that has been involved with this event in the past, I can't think about how many times I have gone along the paddock, hospitality and ramp areas and stood in the same spot that this occurred.. Terrible, having some difficulty watching the video to figure out the exact direction the P51 was coming from, but it looks like it was coming from behind the bleachers and hospitality ( over residential and industrial areas), which would suggest that it was way off course out of the safety or spray areas working back to the airport... Not sure that you can prevent an accident like this from occurring with out a plane never leaving airspace within the race course or over the mountains...A great event.... Nothing like watching the races from one of the pylons on course...

 

just a couple quick comments from an aero engineering perspective.

The tab is made from fabric to keep it very light. Both it and the elevator need to be light weight and very well balanced to reduce flutter at high speeds. Extra weight out from the rotational axis of the elevator make flutter problems worse. Flutter at speed can cause fatigue in the metal connections/supports. In this case the tab is a servo tab and it is there to reduce the effort from the pilot when making control inputs. Sort of an aviation version of power steering. The controls actually move surface and the tab and the tab defection helps move the surface. When the tab breaks free, it can force the elevator to its upper travel limit. This is where the pitch up would come from if the trim tab initiated the event. It is also possible that pilot input for whatever reason drove the tab and elevator to its limit and then overloaded the tab and broke it... hard to say which came first.

The wrinkling in the skin in the one photo not surprising to me. Skin wrinkles/buckling under load in a monocoque structure is normal and to be expected and happens long before any overloading or failure. Its only a problem if it doesn't go away when the load does... There is no reason to think the photo with the skin wrinkles is anything abnormal.

 

this video shows the large amount of debris being thrown from the impact. Scary

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNtERSeYMUM&feature=share[/ame]

 

this link is to an image just a second or less prior to impact that shows the attitude of the airplane and direction just prior to impact.

http://i55.tinypic.com/ezlk4n.jpg

 

That aerodynamic hiss right before impact is chilling...

 

This P-51 was extensively modified, and was in the experimental class. But, did they do flutter testing at high speed? It was in storage from 1999-2009 and then restored. Was this its first actual race since restoration?