Mass Casualties at Reno Air Show [Crash]

[Bigtime]

An older article about Leeward and the Galloping Ghost:

http://www.sportaviationonline.org/s...on/201105#pg36

[Raekwon]

New video showing impact

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/....kgw?hpt=hp_t2

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by fotze

Are the odds of dying at an airshow greater than in an air crash?

I would think they are safer, but incidents like the Ramstein and Lviv crashes may have skewed the numbers higher.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by speede5

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Apparently there are pictures showing the pilot slumped over in the cockpit, which would be the likely result of an 11g pull. If the aircraft had a tendency to climb at speed, he would have flown with full elevator trim down, and when the tab broke off would have experienced an immediate pull.

Seems counterintuitive that they'd race requiring lots of trim - that's induced drag that I would think they'd find other methods of trimming out.

Was that broken part even a trim tab really? Or was it a boost tab to reduce the amount of effort needed to manipulate the control surfaces at speed?

[speede5]

I am making assumptions, but normally lift increases with speed, and this would be one way to keep the nose down.

Another thing pilots like to do is fly with nose down trim to put some weight on the stick making it easier to control, positive trim takes all the minor jitters out of the controls and makes the plane more stable. Aerobatic pilots in particular do this, not so sure about air races but it would have it's place. Most of the Snowbirds fly the show with a considerable amount of nose down trim for this reason, the Blue angels actually wrap bungee cords around the stick pulling it forward to give them a positive feel, since the computer compensates when they trim it nose heavy.

It could have been a balance tab, but that wouldn't have caused the elevator to move, it would have made the pilot work harder, thats about it.

[FLAME ENVY]

Originally Posted by fotze

Are the odds of dying at an airshow greater than in an air crash?

A spectator has not been killed at an air show in North America in over 60 years. Many pilots have lost their lives entertaining these people however.

The air races in Reno are much different than an air show, this is also the first time a spectator(s)has been killed at Reno due to an aircraft crashing.

[FLAME ENVY]

Originally Posted by speede5

I am making assumptions, but normally lift increases with speed, and this would be one way to keep the nose down.

Another thing pilots like to do is fly with nose down trim to put some weight on the stick making it easier to control, positive trim takes all the minor jitters out of the controls and makes the plane more stable. Aerobatic pilots in particular do this, not so sure about air races but it would have it's place. Most of the Snowbirds fly the show with a considerable amount of nose down trim for this reason, the Blue angels actually wrap bungee cords around the stick pulling it forward to give them a positive feel, since the computer compensates when they trim it nose heavy.

It could have been a balance tab, but that wouldn't have caused the elevator to move, it would have made the pilot work harder, thats about it.

I currently fly aerobatics in a Super Decathlon and am transitioning to a Pitts S-1S. I always have medial forward trim on the aircraft when doing acro for the reasons you specify, more control feel, particularly when pulling. In straight and level, non aerobatic flight you want to be trimmed for straight and level flight which reduces fatigue. I always have a little forward trim when landing in any aircraft as the slight resistance provides more feel and control during the flare.

When the NTSB finishes their investigation report I can assure you the departure of the elevator trim tab will be primary cause of the accident. It was the catalyst for the events that followed. Trim tab failure at 500 MPH - instantaneous 10+G pull (rumored to be 12) - pilot incapacitated - high speed stall at low altitude with no aircraft control. The aircraft nearly did a reverse half cuban 8 before impact.


The Blue's actually have a forward force of 40 pounds on their sticks which they must overcome just for straight and level flight, they don't wear G suits nor use oxygen for their performances. They rock !!

[speede5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCBbo...layer_embedded

The first 3 minutes or so are pretty good, related to the crash, the rest is a bit out there.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by FLAME ENVY

I currently fly aerobatics in a Super Decathlon and am transitioning to a Pitts S-1S.

I'm so jealous I could beat you to death with an aileron.

[Bigtime]

Bump.

The NTSB has released the probable cause of this crash:

August 27, 2012


WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board determined today that deteriorated locknut inserts found in the highly modified North American P-51D airplane that crashed during the 2011 National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, allowed the trim tab attachment screws to become loose, and even initiated fatigue cracking in one screw. This condition, which resulted in reduced stiffness in the elevator trim system, ultimately led to aerodynamic flutter at racing speed that broke the trim tab linkages, resulting in a loss of controllability and the eventual crash.

On September 16, 2011, as the experimental single-seat P-51D airplane “The Galloping Ghost,” traveling about 445 knots, or 512 mph, in the third lap of the six-lap race, passed pylon 8, it experienced a left-roll upset and high-G pitch up. During the upset sequence, the airplane’s vertical acceleration peaked at 17.3 G, causing incapacitation of the pilot. Seconds later, a section of the left elevator trim tab separated in flight. The airplane descended and impacted the ramp in the spectator box seating area, killing the pilot and 10 spectators and injuring more than 60 others.

“In Reno, the fine line between observing risk and being impacted by the consequences when something goes wrong was crossed,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman. “The pilots understood the risks they assumed; the spectators assumed their safety had been assessed and addressed.”

Contributing to the accident were the undocumented and untested major modifications made to the airplane, as well as the pilot’s operation of the airplane in the unique air racing environment without adequate flight testing.

The nearly 70-year-old airplane had undergone numerous undocumented modifications. The modifications, designed to increase speed, included shortening of the wings, installation of a boil-off cooling system for the engine, increasing the elevator counterweights, modification of the pitch trim system, and changing the incidence of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

Although the Federal Aviation Administration required that a flight standards district office be notified in writing of any major changes made to The Galloping Ghost before it could be flown, investigators could find no records that such notifications were made except for the installation of the boil-off cooling system. The undocumented major modifications were identified through wreckage examinations, photographic evidence, and interviews with ground crewmembers.

In April, while the investigation was ongoing and after the NTSB’s investigative hearing in January on air race and air show safety, the NTSB issued 10 safety recommendations to the Reno Air Racing Association, the National Air racing Group Unlimited Division, and the FAA. These recommendations addressed:

• requiring engineering evaluations for aircraft with major modifications;
• raising the level of safety for spectators and personnel near the race course;
• improving FAA guidance for air race and course design;
• providing race pilots with high-G training and evaluating the feasibility of G-suit requirements for race pilots; and
• tracking the resolution of race aircraft discrepancies identified during prerace technical inspections.

Although no additional safety recommendations were issued today, the Board reclassified nine existing recommendations as described below:

• Eligibility Requirements for Aircraft with Major Modifications – recommendations A 12 9 and A-12-13 classified “Open—Acceptable Response”

• Prerace Technical Inspection Discrepancy Tracking – recommendation A 12 10, classified “Closed—Acceptable Action”

• Spectator Safety – recommendations A 12 14 and 15, classified “Closed—Acceptable Action”

• High G Training, G-Suit Feasibility for Pilots – recommendations A 12 11, -12, -16, and -17, classified “Closed—Acceptable Action”

A tenth safety recommendation, issued to the FAA, which addressed air race and course design guidance was reclassified as “Open—Acceptable Response” on July 25, 2012.

“It’s good news for the air races that so many of our recommendations have been addressed,” said Chairman Hersman. “We will continue to push for the full implementation of all of our safety recommendations.”

A synopsis of the NTSB report, including the probable cause and a complete list of the reclassified safety recommendations, is available at: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2012...nv/index.html.

Other information and previous press releases related to the Reno Air Races investigation:

• NTSB opens docket on Reno Air Races crash
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2012/120821b.html
• NTSB to issue safety recommendations on air races and provide investigative update on 2011 crash at the Reno Air Races http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2012/120405.html
• NTSB January 10, 2012, hearing on Air Race and Air Show Safety http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2012...how/index.html
• NTSB Provides Investigative Update and Issues Recommendations to Increase Safety at Air Races
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2012/120410.html




17.3 g's. Damn.

[Cowperson]

During the upset sequence, the airplane’s vertical acceleration peaked at 17.3 G, causing incapacitation of the pilot.

If I recall correctly, when this originally happened, there was some thought from observations the pilot had managed some maneuvers that steered the plane largely away from the crowd, except for the poor souls obliterated on the edges.

That quote seems to indicate it was just dumb luck instead of skill that the plane didn't plow right into the main grandstand.

I think.

Cowperson

[Hans Landa]

I think the elevator trim tab conclusion, and the fact that the pilot was unconscious before impact, was known less than two weeks following the incident.
This report just confirms it.


Here is one of my favorite videos (posted in September 2011) which analyzes the event and is meant to be a slap in the face to those who think such things should be banned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCBbosq9-RI

[Bindair Dundat]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Bump.

<snip>



17.3 g's. Damn.

That was my thought when I read the report as well...

That the entire airframe didn't disintegrate under a load condition like that is nothing short of amazing.

[speede5]

http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2012/AAB1201.pdf