What's going on??

Everyone says they come in bunches and when the air show season is in full swing , stuff happens. When I was doing air shows not a summer went by that we didn't lose somone. In ten years my wife and I counted 33 fatalities and wasn't all newcomers. Art Scholl and many others went west. The dual P-51 accident today appears to have been a formation landing and I wonder how many times these pilots tried that or did that in practice. In the larger air shows we were told in no uncertain terms that we were not to perform any maneuver or formation work that hadn't been practiced and perfected before the show AND approved by the director. Air shows generate a feeling of excitement and adrenalin and the urge to try something "really neat". Formation flying is wonderful fun if both pilots know what they are doing and constantly practice with each other.
I made friends with one of the Canadian Snowbirds and asked him if he ever worried about the guy on his right in the 10 plane line abreast wing over that they did. He said, " What guy on my right? I only know about the guy on my left. I have a contract with him to keep from hitting him."
Switches

 

I had the unfortunate opportunity of witnessing the P-51 crash at Oshkosh a few days ago.

I was parked in the vintage airplane parking which was directly opposite where the two aircraft touched down. It was during a formation landing. I saw the leading aircraft touch down first (a no-no when doing formation landings) and the trailing aircraft touched down a second or two later and overtook the leading aircraft. The propeller cut through the left horizontal stabilizer and then into the mid fuselage of the leading aircraft at which time the trailing aircraft flipped over on its back came apart and burned. The leading aircraft went off the runway to the right and ended up on its nose.

I understand further that it was a father and son team but was not able to confirm that or who was flying which aircraft.

Sad day.

Planeflyr

 

I spoke to a pilot friend who witnessed the incident and said that the two airplanes were trying to make a formation landing and the trailing airplane was high and behind in the formation and ACCELERATED to catch up to his position . The leading airplane was on the ground when trailing airplane caught up to and overran the first airplane , hitting it in the left horizontal stabilizer and mid fuselage with the prop. Account is all unofficial , of course.
Switches

 

Page One - P-51 Ops Manual - no formation landings!