Reno Air Races Crash

[PatMarlin]

My best oldest friend who lives in Reno just called and told me he was with his son's entire elementary school class at the Reno Air Races. Been there all day, and just got the kids loaded their school bus when a guy slammed into the stands with a P-51 Mustang right behind them.

Holly cow.

I haven't seen any news yet.

[redneckdan]

http://www.ktvn.com/story/15483678/plane-crash-at-air-races-at-reno-stead-airport?hpt=hp_t2

[Digger]

Jimmy Leeward .... the "Galloping Ghost" ...... very sad , shocking , apparently pulled up fast with something wrong , don't know if he stalled or what ...... then went straight down ..........unknown number of people injured .... casualties ...

[xbeeman412]

Prayers for those injured and Families of those killed. Heard there were 8 dead (tb2K forum).

[smoked turkey]

Terrible news. Our prayers are with those affected by this awful accident.

[hiram1]

this is sad news for sure

[jblee10]

Watching the news on it now. You know those guys stick with it and sacrifice themselves to prevent injuries. That pilot deserves our utmost respect. A dangerous sport with heroes as stars. What a trajedy! God Bless!

[plmitch]

Very sad story here, prayers for those involved.

[MtGun44]

Real shame to lose both man and machine. P-51s are rare and Leeward was known as
one of the really good guys.

Close-up pictures of the plane just before it hit show three significant anomalies.
1) elevator trim tab is missing - VERY serious issue, probably the cause of the loss of control.

2) tailwheel fully extended, main gear fully retracted. Abnormal to be out of sequence and
for tailwheel to be extended in 'racing trim'. Not sure if it is important, but definitely 'wrong'.

3) Pilot not visible in clear shot of tiny racing canopy. Pilot was far out of normal flying
position. Incapacitation? Pushed down by high-Gee in response to loss of trim tab and some
massive elevator movement at maximum speed? Reaching for something? Stroke or heart
attack?

Too soon to be sure, but these are very significant clues, for certain.

Bill

[PatMarlin]

Glad my buddy Chris and his son are OK.

It would be his second miss. When we were kids, growing up in Sacramento- Old Land Park, there was an airplane show at the Sac Executive Airport, what was still the commercial airport at the time I think.

Chris lived around the corner from me since we were in diapers. A neighbor lady was going to take us and her kids to the air show and for ice cream afterwards. I couldn't go as I was in trouble and grounded for who knows what.

She had car trouble and had to cancel.

An old aircraft that day (don't remember what make) slammed into Farrells Ice Cream Parlor after the show. Farrells was inline down from the end of that runway, across a street and next to a residential neighborhood. I lost other friends in that crash.

I think Chris's son is the about the same age we were back then.

I never liked planes much. I'll stick with my fondness of boats.

[MtGun44]

IIRC, that was an F-86 that hit the ice cream parlor.

Bill

[JIMinPHX]

Bill, where did you find the close up pics?

[Matt_G]

Death toll is up to 9 now.
What a horrible accident this was.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.

[MtGun44]

On some web site. Amazing quality. Grabbed them immediately.

Here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=4274

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=4275

The trim tab probably had a loose control and fluttered off, probably leaving the natural trim state without
the tab as strong nose up. Probably pulled enough Gs to G-LOC the pilot - with the dramatically shortened
wings 12-15 G probably is possible structurally. He was not flying that plane when it went in. Game over.
Sorry to see both the man and the plane lost.

A real shame to hurt the spectators, too. Good luck that it mostly splattered away from the crowd and didn't
hit IN the stands. Those guys are running around 500 mph, and have an amazing amount of energy to
dissipate. It could have been much worse, but for the families of the dead and injured that is no solace. I
just hope that ambulance chasing lawyers don't close down air racing.

Bill

[PatMarlin]

What a horrible accident. Got to wonder what goes through one's mind when you know you are going down and there's no stopping it?

I really loved that Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor as a kid. What a great place. The staff would march around in straw hats and sing, beat on drums. My Favorite was what they called a "Gold Digger" sunday. Vanilla and butterscotch syrup. I can still taste that in my mind.

[firefly1957]

The thing that hit me was the lack of a fire? Is it possible he was out of fuel? I also noticed what seemed to be a odd amount of smoke from the engine at the top of his climb or is that from the high G maneuver?

[JIMinPHX]

The laminar flow wings on a P-51 were always known for providing fast dives, which is unfortunate in this situation.

Bill,
you pointed out some very good observations. My guess would be that a control component failed under the high stress of flying the race. Those things were built for dog fights, but they are now antiques & metals do fatigue with age & repeated stress.

The NTSB should have their hands full with this one. After a direct impact like that, they are going to be recovering a lot of very small fragments.

My condolences to the families of those who were lost or injured.

[MtGun44]

"Smoke" was probably the cooling system steam. Note that this P-51 has no radiator scoop.
There is a tank in the aft fuselage for boiling coolant. Each pound of water boiled away
takes 1000 BTUs, this was a short term, constant loss cooling system to cut drag. When
running it put out twin plumes of steam from outlets just aft of the wing trailing edge in
the fuselage. Every trick possible to cut drag and gain speed.

CLARIFICATION: This is the cooling system ONLY for this particular airplane, NOT for P-51
Mustangs in general. The constant loss system only works until it boils off all the liquid,
only a few minutes worth, only usable in a short race. Normal P-51s have a radiator
and belly air scoop to feed air through it, but this slows the airplane due to air drag.

I also was struck by the lack of fire. I am guessing that the total quantity of fuel was small,
maybe they were near the end of the race. At high power they burn a lot of fuel, and I
imagine that they may run very nearly out of fuel by the end of the race. Still seems real
odd.

Bill

[WILCO]

Got to wonder what goes through one's mind when you know you are going down and there's no stopping it?

I would imagine it depends on your state of mind when undertaking such adventures. From the mishaps I've experienced (car/motorcycle/truck/other), you fight for control of the situation till the end, you're not focused on yourself as it's all a blur and happens in a flash.

[WILCO]

I also was struck by the lack of fire.

Me too. I believe that saved a few folks.

[WILCO]

After a direct impact like that, they are going to be recovering a lot of very small fragments.


Reminded me of the kamikaze attacks from WWII. I remember Pearl Harbor....

[PatMarlin]

Here's a good article on the Ghost and Leeward:

http://www.sportaviationonline.org/sportaviation/201105#pg38

[xbeeman412]

As a pilot of years gone by that article lights a fire that can never burn but is a good feeling.

He cut his eyeteeth on flying.

Bet if asked how he wanted to go bet his answer would have been flying (without huring others).

[Love Life]

Just got back in a few minutes ago and all I can say is holy smokes. My prayers are going out to all who were injured and the families of those killed. You know what gets me about this? I had three tickets for the Friday show, and planned on taking the family because my daughter loves planes. I didn't get to go because I couldn't get off work early enough. I gave the tickets to several of the single junior Marines on base. I am in the process of trying to call them now.

[MtGun44]

Hope that your Marines are OK.

Bill

[Boz330]

He cut his eyeteeth on flying.

Bet if asked how he wanted to go bet his answer would have been flying (without huring others).

I doubt it! I have been a pilot and skydiver for many years and have had close scrapes on several occasions, that thought has never crossed my mind. I would like to go at a ripe old age and not besmirching either activity that I love.

Bob

[Love Life]

All are accounted for.

[xbeeman412]

As a pilot who started flying in 1961, along with many other loves of My life, I cant think of a better way to go than dooing what You LOVE to do. For that reason I made the statement that Leeward probably would choose to go dooing what He loved to do best, not wasting away from cancer or many other debialiting sicknesses.

[3006guns]

What worries me is that "they" (various do gooders) have been looking for a reason to shut down the Reno races.

"They" might have a valid argument now....

[Harter66]

Thoughts and prayers to all of the families.

It'll be tough to shut them down. 47 yr 20 pilot fatalities and just 9,as of this mornings paper,spectator deaths, as a result of racing . Less than 10 property damage claims,that I know of. NASCAR,INDY and NHRA should be so lucky.

The aircraft in question has been race modified for a long time. Among the things that happen to P51s is that they loose a lot of weight. Combat ready and fueled they were around 12600 as memory serves(I've been mistaken before so use this as a guide only ) race ready they're around 6500 lbs. Based on a fair bit of time spent w pilots w/1000s of hrs logged in them. The guns,magazines, cockpit, armour,and glass windscreens/canopy are the 1st things out and are behind the center of lift as well as gravity. The result is a nose heavy airplane that runs out of nose up trim. That isn't a really big deal in flight cross country . On final aproach and landing nose heavy becomes a heavy stick, think of it like that truck w/o power steering in the parking lot. 1 of the things that can be done is to add weight back in (enter Pithagerus(spelling)). In this case (again by my best guess) about 1200lbs is removed from an area about (centered) 6' behind the center of lift and 3-4' behind the center of gravity . The simple solution is to ,doing calculations running into 9 places, is to place a solid fixed weight of about 90-110lbs. About where the tailwheel is. The yield is that the center of gravity and lift move aft back where the combat ready airplane had it. The trim comes back,no more nose heavy finals or landings. The con of this if you will,is that in that 4G turn the load on the structures isn't 90-110# but 360-440 lbs. If, big if, they had a formed cast ballast hooked to a bulkhead (for a visual its basically O shaped w/the rigging cables through the top half of the O and hydrolic lines for the tailwheel through the bottom half) and it came loose in the turn it would have effectively locked the controls. See Utube videos. They would be w/the elevator slightly up and right rudder. In the turns rudder and elevators reverse roles the rudder holds the nose up while the elevators hold the turn. When it banged in the turn he may have called Mayday,invesigators aren't sure he did. Procedure calls for power if you have it, climb all you can get or 2000' ,establish glide or a 2 min turn, pick a runway or wait for the safety. Plane. With the controls locked in the back half as soon as he reached about 45*left the climb and involuntary rt turn would have started. By level the tail would have been at least 2ft left of the prop hub. If he tried to stop the yaw w/roll at this point he would have likely snaprolled, rt rudder lt aileron nose up, the airplane is still 400 mph and still holding 2gs ,200# on the control cables. The G loading increase as he reaches 45* rt and is has the far end of the tarmack at or below the nose. By now I imagine as a seasoned pilot he's decided to roll over and reduce power to control the climb but he's pushing 450mph ,5Gs and is back to 65* left.

Based on 9 yrs in the pits on race crews and upwards of 30 yr in aviation that's what I think happened. The parts missing I think were tailgear doors and or may have taken the trim tab off but durin the race the trim should have been nearly neutral.

[rockrat]

Saw a pic of the trim tab hanging off the elevator and another pic of where it is missing. Could be that the trim tab hanging off put upward pressure on the elevator, causing a rapid nose up and enough G's to incapacitate the pilot.

[MtGun44]

Trim tab left the elevator, absolutely certain from the pix.

Bill