Reno Air Races

[quade 3]

My heart goes out to all. Here's to hoping all our friends are well.

This will be moving on the wires shortly, but it appears as if one of the planes suffered an in-flight break-up and some people in the stands were also hurt.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AggieDave 6]

Linkage or whats up? I don't see anything bad on the wire.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[quade 3]

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Linkage or whats up? I don't see anything bad on the wire.

I have a couple of jump pilot friends that run in it. One of them posted a cryptic message on FB about seeing something horrible, that he was safe but didn't exactly know what had happened to people on the ground. There was a live video stream up from the event site, but they've taken it down. In the time I could see it, they were focused on a section of folding chairs that had been scattered. There were multiple fire rescue and ambulances at the scene. EMTs were carrying orange litters and it appeared as if there where multiple injuries in that viewing area.

From what I could gather on the live stream chat, one of the airplanes nosed up and came apart. I saw one person type the name of the airplane and it's a name you'd recognize if you are familiar with the races. I won't repeat it here since that hasn't been reported by the media yet.

Live stream here with chat. Video is currently offline, but the chat is still up.

http://www.livestream.com/loadedtv

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 3]

YouTube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNePeKn3Tg&

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[1969912 0]

not much info

http://www.foxreno.com/news/29211162/detail.html

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[pchapman 261]

If it really was Jimmy Leeward as some say, he was one of the best known pilots.

News organizations can overdo it in trying to not report anything until verified. One news report stated that the condition of the pilot is unknown. Technically perhaps true, but what d'ya think...

[1969912 0]

There is video of the crash on youtube. No way he survived. The plane was going almost straight down.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[skymama 35]

Our news in Orlando said there was a "local" pilot involved. Was he from around here?

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[TiaDanger 0]

Reno is my hometown and my mom was just at the air races yesterday...made me go into an absolute panic that she had also gone today, but she didn't...I feel so bad for everybody...

And for the record: the appropriate ranking of cool modes of transportation is jet pack, hover board, transporter, Batmobile, and THEN giant ant.
D.S. #8.8

[sacex250 0]

Video of plane pulling up and doing a cloverloop before crashing right in front of spectator area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTzX35wOGas

ETA: Video's been pulled by user. My unofficial description:

From the video it appears that as the P-51 was rounding the final turn to line up with the runway to pass in front of the crowd, the aircraft tightened up the turn to the inside until parallel with the runway and then rolled wings level as it pitched-up into the vertical. Prior to reaching 90 degrees vertical the aircraft started to roll to the right towards the crowd beginning a Clover Loop type maneuver. As the aircraft reached the inverted it had completed 90 degrees of turn in a wings-level position so that the aircraft was flying perpendicular to the runway and heading straight towards the crowd line. The aircraft then remained wings-level as it began to descend the backside of the loop directly down towards the spectator area as it began to reverse course (essentially a Split-S maneuver) back towards the runway. The aircraft had only climbed to approximately 1,000' agl during the first half of the loop and completed just over 90 degrees of the back-half of the loop before impacting the ground in a nearly vertical attitude just in front of the main crowd line.

It's all been said before, no sense repeating it here.

[pchapman 261]

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There is video of the crash on youtube. No way he survived. The plane was going almost straight down.

Yeah, that's what I meant. He took a P-51 vertically into the tarmac...

[1969912 0]

Fox Reno is reporting 2 spectators dead. It will probably end up being much higher than that. This is the video that I saw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNePeKn3Tg

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[theonlyski 3]

Chicago news 9 just reported ~75 injured, ~25 seriously.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[ryoder 1,382]

Last interview with the pilot.
Skip forward to 2:22: http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-jimmy-leeward-final-interview-20110916,0,334663.htmlstory

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[BillyVance 34]

3 are dead so far, toll expected to climb.

One spectator was saying it was bad, she was 30 yards from the impact site. The guy in front of her was hit in the head from debris off the plane. There were literally body parts all over. Legs and arms. Including off of survivors.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[BillyVance 34]

I've been told the death toll is now at least 12.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[sacex250 0]

Early conjecture based on in-flight photos of the airplane just before the crash is that the aircraft lost a pitch trim tab causing a violent pitch up which may have overpowered the pilot and even caused a loss-of-consciousness.

In the first photo, the trim tab is missing from the trailing edge of the port elevator. The pilot's head also appears to be fairly far forward and low in the cockpit

In the second photo, the pilot's head is not visible. Also the tail wheel is down which may be the result of high-G forces.

This theory makes sense considering the flight path of the aircraft before the crash.

It's all been said before, no sense repeating it here.

[femTo 0]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44556695/ns/us_news-life/

http://www.ktvn.com/story/15483678/pilot-dies-in-crash-at-air-races?redirected=true

[akjmpplt 0]

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Early conjecture based on in-flight photos of the airplane just before the crash is that the aircraft lost a pitch trim tab causing a violent pitch up which may have overpowered the pilot and even caused a loss-of-consciousness.

In the first photo, the trim tab is missing from the trailing edge of the port elevator. The pilot's head also appears to be fairly far forward and low in the cockpit

In the second photo, the pilot's head is not visible. Also the tail wheel is down which may be the result of high-G forces.

This theory makes sense considering the flight path of the aircraft before the crash.

This happened to Bob Hannah flying Voodoo in '98. He lost the elevator trim tab, pitch up pulled 10G causing him to black out. Luckily for him he didn't roll and woke up at 9000' feet.

Jimmy's head is low and forward probably because he is unconscious from the pitch up. The roll is probably just incidental.

He was a decent guy.

SmugMug

[base283 0]

Why are all the links to youtube dead. Media profiteering?
Take care, space

[ryoder 1,382]

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Why are all the links to youtube dead. Media profiteering?
Take care, space

A comment from Slashdot on that:
"YouTube is censoring the videos as fast as they pop up. You can post movies of your dog picking its own nose, but factual, on-site amateur reporting is apparently forbidden."

CNN has a video I haven't seen elsewhere: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/17/nevada.plane.crash/index.html

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[shah269 0]

Just that little tab was enough to cause such a huge change in pitch? WOW!

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

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Just that little tab was enough to cause such a huge change in pitch? WOW!

Yes. The trim tab acts sort of as an elevator on the elevator. Think how a surface the size of the elevator controls the pitch of the entire plane and you can see how a surface the size of the trim tab can affect the elevator (which then affects the pitch of the whole plane).

I'm still hearing only 3 deaths, with 12 critical.

Although not any consolation to those who are affected by the deaths, it seems incredibly lucky that it wasn't a lot worse.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[skybill 18]

Hi "ace,"
"All for the want of a 'Trim Tab!!" Seems like the "Little things" can get ya' into the most trouble. Couple that with the built up speed he had comming around pylon 8 and headding for the home pylon! Look at the "Props!!" Their pitch angle indicates one hell of a lot on manifold pressure and that also means a hell of a lot of torque. Ya' got torque, ya' got Roll!! What "ak" said about "Voodoo in '98" also adds a bit more 140 octane to the fire. 'Just my musings.

'Ya gotta remember one thing, when yer pushin' Pylons at high speeds and ya' left all the "Red Lines" sittin' on the ramp, yer not out for a Sunday ride!! It's a "Risky Business!" That was the name of Bill Rheinschils's P-51D, Unlimited Race # 45.

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[sacex250 0]

Quote

Hi "ace,"
"All for the want of a 'Trim Tab!!" Seems like the "Little things" can get ya' into the most trouble. Couple that with the built up speed he had comming around pylon 8 and headding for the home pylon! Look at the "Props!!" Their pitch angle indicates one hell of a lot on manifold pressure and that also means a hell of a lot of torque. Ya' got torque, ya' got Roll!! What "ak" said about "Voodoo in '98" also adds a bit more 140 octane to the fire. 'Just my musings.

Torque would've caused the aircraft to roll to the left. Considering the events, I think it's highly likely that Leeward was unconscious because he never would have rolled the aircraft to the right towards the crowd intentionally. His priority would've been to slow the airplane down by doing a steep climbing turn to reduce the control stick forces. It's the roll to the right that put the aircraft inverted directly over the crowd.

If Leeward could have done anything to avoid the crowd he would've rolled the aircraft to keep it in a steep bank to keep the it in the air. He would've never given it the chance to drop its nose and dive straight down.

It's all been said before, no sense repeating it here.