2011 Reno Air Races......Not a good ending. Plane Crashes into Stands today

[Solus]

Depending on how far forward the metal cowling extends, and I believe it is even with or possibly forward of the pilot he could be just pushed back out of sight.

That might be.  In photo 22, he is well forward into the transparent canopy.   That was as he was preparing for takeoff so I guess it is possible that he was unstrapped and leaning forward for something.

Like a fighter pilot (or even a race car driver), he would be strapped in and restrained so that he should not be forces out of his "control" position.  A fighter pilot will also be positioned to have as good a view all around as possible so sitting back under the metal cowling wouldn't work.  But in an air race, while visibility is still very important, it might not be as much.

[tombogan03884]

That picture is why I deleted the comment 

[Solus]

That picture is why I deleted the comment 

I'll try to be slower next time....I am starting to do that well......be slower..

[jnevis]

The Unlimited Mustangs like that one there is VERY little side visibility.  The canopy has been reduced to the bare minimum, along with the empenage, wings, and control surfaces.  Your head is basically bouncing off the canopy bow.  You don't strap into and Unlimited, you wear it. 

Most of the Formula One series racers are the same way.  Just enough room for a specific pilot and not a whole lot of extra space and nothing that isn't absoltely necesary.

[billt]

Noticed something in the photos...Might be caused by poor photo quality, but they don't all look bad enough not to show this.

First, look at photo 22.  The pilot is clearly visible in the cockpit and is fairly well forward of the rear cockpit bulkhead.

Next note photo 3.  You can see the union of the front and rear canopy sections, but no pilot is visible.  Several photos do not show the pilot, but this is the best one and the others maybe distorted.

I'm not saying he isn't in there, but where he able, he would be visible at the controls trying to fly out of the stall.

I guess the high G's of the initial pitch up may have knocked him out and he is slumped out of sight.  Or he could be cringing, knowing the end is coming.....these guys aren't cringes by nature, though

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/air-race-crash-in-reno-1316226189-slideshow/friday-sept-16-2011-photo-p-51-mustang-photo-231406637.html#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fair-race-crash-in-reno-1316226189-slideshow%252Ffriday-sept-16-2011-photo-p-51-mustang-photo-231406637.html



I agree. In photo #9 with the aircraft inverted moments before the crash, his head is clearly visible right up against the instrument panel. (Not a natural flying position in the least.) In photo #10 he is not visible at all. Cockpit canopies in these aircraft are very small. He could very well have been incapacitated at this point. Also notice the tail wheel is retracted fully down, but the main gear is fully retracted in the up position?

On a P-51 The main gear doors are hanging open when the plane is parked at the ramp. As soon as the engine starts, and the hydraulic pump starts to build hydraulic pressure, the main gear doors immediately retract up. When the gear is retracted after takeoff the main gear folds in after the wheel well doors reopen, and then retract last to cover the wheel well completely after the main gear folds in. The tail wheel retracts with the main gear while all of this is going on. There is no reason for the tail wheel to deploy with the main gear up.

In photo #11 taken just a moment before impact you get a clear view of the canopy, yet again without the pilots head visible at all. The same appears in a larger photo #12. In photo #27 showing the plane taxing on the ramp, his head takes up almost 2/3rds of the canopy in a normal upright seated position as the pilot would be during the entire course of the flight. As was mentioned their helmets are constantly banging into the canopy during flight because of the limited visibility of these small, teardrop designed canopies. If you look at any of these airplanes parked at the ramp, the inside of the canopies around the pilots head are heavily scratched from this constant contact with the pilots helmet.

Again, if you look at photos # 10, 11, and 12, they show zero up elevator input while the plane was in a full power on dive. The plane descended in a straight down fashion right up until impact. He proved he had elevator control just before because he pulled up into a near vertical climb after announcing a "Mayday" call on the radio. So there was no doubt he had full elevator control then. As the plane went inverted you can see his head up against the panel, then moments later after the plane went into near vertical decent, you cannot see him at all. During all of this he had full power on with zero up elevator input.

It appears at this point he became incapacitated during the high G-load pull up. There was also no reason for him to allow the plane to go inverted over the top in an emergency situation like it did. You can also see in photo #9 in addition to his head being right up against the panel, there is clearly right stick input being applied by looking at the position of the ailerons. These aircraft under normal race conditions pull 3.5+ G's around the pylons. In a high speed pull up with full power they can easily exceed 6 G's. I'm guessing at some point in this crash investigation, they'll find he became incapacitated. Another thing is the trim tab fell off long before he executed the high G pull up because it was found on the course, a long distance away from the crash site, so based on his ability to perform that maneuver, it didn't appear to cause any loss of elevator control in the moments leading up to the crash due to the trim tab separating from the aircraft.  Bill T.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

I should also add I do not agree with any of this conjecture that he, by some last second heroics, "tried to avoid the crowd". If that were the case he would have pulled back on power. He augered in at full throttle.  It almost looked suicidal, which of course it wasn't. There was no power reduction from when he originally initiated the vertical climb, to impact. It was pure luck he didn't hit the stands, nothing more. Besides such actions would have been impossible if he were incapacitated, which is a very real possibility at this time.  Bill T.

[Pathfinder]

Since the pilots are generally strapped in - as one said, you wear the airplane - I'm wondering, due to the pilot's disappearance, if the harness didn't fail during the hi-G maneuvers, driving him forward and sliding him down the seat. It would explain his disappearance from the canopy.

[billt]

I'm wondering, due to the pilot's disappearance, if the harness didn't fail during the hi-G maneuvers, driving him forward and sliding him down the seat. It would explain his disappearance from the canopy.

That could be a possibility, but highly unlikely. It looks like a total lack of any muscle rigidness causing him the lack of ability to hold his head up. These planes are constantly subjected to a positive G condition that pushes the pilot into the seat. They rarely pull negative G's which wants to pull the pilot through the canopy. This is what causes a lot of aerobatic pilots to stop during their performances, and tighten up their safety harnesses and straps. The constant transfer from positive to negative G load can loosen up the best of safety equipment.

If you watch the full length video of the Bryan Jensen crash at the Kansas City Airshow just a few weeks ago, you can see where about halfway through his performance be briefly flies straight and level at altitude while he tightens everything up. He crashed near the end of his routine.  

This is a video of Svetlana Kapanina, one of the best aerobatic pilots in the world. There is a lot of in cockpit footage showing the transfer from positive to negative G's. Air race pilots are not subjected to this positive / negative G loading, which is what loosens up harnesses. Or worse, cause them to fail.  Bill T.

[Solus]

I should also add I do not agree with any of this conjecture that he, by some last second heroics, "tried to avoid the crowd". If that were the case he would have pulled back on power. He augered in at full throttle.  It almost looked suicidal, which of course it wasn't. There was no power reduction from when he originally initiated the vertical climb, to impact. It was pure luck he didn't hit the stands, nothing more. Besides such actions would have been impossible if he were incapacitated, which is a very real possibility at this time.  Bill T.

I agree.  I'd have to say he went in out of control.  Had he been able to input any control, he would not have been at full power and, while he likely would have crashed, it would have been at less than the close to 90 degree impact.

Also, the fact that he got off a Mayday call under this crisis situation showed that he had not lost his ability to react and try to deal with the situation.  I'd say only incapacitation lead to the total loss of control.

P.S.  Can't help but like Svetlana....she walks and moves with the confidence and precision she demonstrates in the air. 
 

[billt]

Incredible video at 0:38 and again in slow motion at 1:46. He had to be well over 400 knots at impact.  Bill T.