Reno race crash in front of grandstands

This is so horrible. For all of the families and victims involved, I cannot imagine the anguish they're experiencing. The Reno races have been a big part of my life, flying, and future goals. The family that surrounds the air racing community has been such a positive & inspiring influence for me, this is such a tragedy. My heart aches.
 
Here is a pic that a friend took yesterday afternoon. He was working the races and is pretty shook up...I haven't talked to him yet though. Just sucks.
 

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Seeing those videos makes me sick to my stomach. Cancelled my trip out there last minute and am glad I did, I don't ever wanna see something like that in person. I really hope that this isn't the end of such an amazing event.
 
Last year I watched the Thunder Mustang destroy its self right in front of me. And I would have put money on George being killed in that crash. It was so hard to watch that I pretty much said I wouldn't race in Reno (was gearing up for the bi plane class). I am so thankful I didn't see Jimmy's accident today. Horrific beyond words. I was going to jumpseat out today, then got roped into flying a Marchetti out tomorrow morning. Needless to say thats not going to happen.
 
Inverted said:
The show has been canceled this year. The FAA has been guns loaded ready to pull the trigger on the end of Reno for several years. This was the last nail in the coffin IMO.
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CzechAirman said:
RIP to the victims. I, for one, will be glad to see Reno shut down. The reason is that air racing butchers historic aircraft as they are converted into racers and grenades rare engines as they are pushed well beyond their design limits.
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Look, I'm not going to stomp on graves this soon, but every time there's been a tragedy in aviation, we learn something and move on. Hopefully the same can happen here and at some point the races will return.
 
CzechAirman said:
The reason is that air racing butchers historic aircraft as they are converted into racers and grenades rare engines as they are pushed well beyond their design limits.
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What would you prefer? These planes just sit around and never fly?

Maybe you should pony up and buy your own, then you can do what you want to with it.

Rare engines? So, what should be done with these engines? Thrown in a drum of oil and kept for the future?
 
There are plenty of non flying examples in museums across the globe for people to enjoy for the next thousand years. The ones that fly, let people do what they want with them. The air racing community is probably 1/100 of 1% of the flying Mustang population.
 
Horrible...I had set up plans to go with a buddy, but I decided to work 6 days straight to save up for my vacation. Very glad I wasn't there to see any of this. Seeing a pilot die in a crash would be traumatizing enough, seeing spectators killed...don't get me started.
 
The crash happened in my buddy's pitbox. Luckily, according to him, he's battered and bruised, but OK. He was picking HR off him and his stuff tonight.

Sad day in aviation.
 
Inverted said:
Initial feelings from a member of the crew, is that the boil off system the airplane uses exploded.... Of course we won't know, there is no airplane to examine.
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Pretty clear in this photo that part of the elevator trim tab is missing. That would cause a rapid, high-G pitch up.

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Its not something I can talk about, but reports now, and what you are looking at and coming to the conclusion of, is correct :/
 
Hacker15e said:
Pretty clear in this photo that part of the elevator trim tab is missing. That would cause a rapid, high-G pitch up.

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That would make sense. The way he rolled it over at the top could have been to stop it from climbing up steeper into a stall/spin. But when he did that, it might have cause an accelerated stall from all the up command that the missing trim tab is giving that just took him all the way into the ground. Who knows how much elevator authority (if any) he would have with that missing. :(
 
Inverted said:
Its not something I can talk about, but reports now, and what you are looking at and coming to the conclusion of, is correct :/
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Do you work for the FAA?

I wish I was there, then I could have helped. I'm sure they weren't prepared for something of this magnitude and needed anyone with at least basic first aid skills.
 
tlewis95 said:
That would make sense. The way he rolled it over at the top could have been to stop it from climbing up steeper into a stall/spin. But when he did that, it might have cause an accelerated stall from all the up command that the missing trim tab is giving that just took him all the way into the ground. Who knows how much elevator authority (if any) he would have with that missing. :(
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My belief is that the Gs from the abrupt pitch up at high speed would be much more of a factor. The photos, IMHO, appear to show the pilot slumped over forward...
 
pullup said:
Do you work for the FAA?

I wish I was there, then I could have helped. I'm sure they weren't prepared for something of this magnitude and needed anyone with at least basic first aid skills.
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No, but I have several crew member friends that have seen very clear evidence. I don't want to say anything until a proper investigation occurs.
 
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