P-51 Crashes !!

[Strychnine]

Another close up vid: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/17/nev...ash/index.html







panorama of the aftermath: http://i.imgur.com/tUDYi.jpg

[aggie97]

Amazing how these pictures have hit the net in less than 24 hours...more amazing is how people actually caught the cause. The picture with it about 75 feet before impact is scary.

[aggie97]

I do have one technical question....

In the article about the plane having an exotic cooling system and how they removed the lower scoop to gain less wind resistance....why on earth is the tail wheel extended in the dive pictures? To go to all that trouble and leave the tail wheel down seems weird.

[bottlerocket]

I do have one technical question....

In the article about the plane having an exotic cooling system and how they removed the lower scoop to gain less wind resistance....why on earth is the tail wheel extended in the dive pictures? To go to all that trouble and leave the tail wheel down seems weird.

Not sure of the gear sequence of the P51, maybe initially he felt the problem and hit the gear lever incase he could recover the aircraft to the field? At that altitude everything is reflex and muscle memory. Might just be step one of the low level checklist and he followed it like any good pilot would.

[Strychnine]

Just speculation, obviously, but ZYouL8R prob got it right.



From an P-51 air race incident in 1998

http://corduroyplanet.blogspot.com/2011/09/chilled.html

Button describes what happened to his airplane in Saturday's heat race. Apparently, the left elevator trim tab came off the airplane at speed, causing the bird to abruptly pitch up, subjecting driver Hannah to over 10 G's of deceleration forces, and causing him to lose conciousness! When he came to, the raceplane had climbed to over 9,000 feet of altitude. A shaken Hannah regained control and brought Voodoo in for a safe landing. Suspected structural damage kept the sleek raceplane out of Sunday's championship competition.



The raceplane missing the vital trim tab.

I do have one technical question....

In the article about the plane having an exotic cooling system and how they removed the lower scoop to gain less wind resistance....why on earth is the tail wheel extended in the dive pictures? To go to all that trouble and leave the tail wheel down seems weird.

Speculation is that high g-load knocked it loose... and led to the pilot losing consciousness.



Side note:

One of the most innovative use of resources that occurred almost immediately after the crash was the use of a nearby, restored, vintage Vietnam era Huey helicopter to transport patients to Pickett Park near Renown Regional Medical Center. On-site personnel pushed the Huey over to a fueling area on its attached skid wheels, had it fueled up and then placed multiple patients in for transport to the hospital facility. It was a novel and helpful asset deployment that most people did not realize occurred.

[Captain Crawfish]

remove the video its just too bad for anyone to watch. gimme a break

[stevo]

remove the video its just too bad for anyone to watch. gimme a break

I'm sure people can make the decision for themselves, there is no reason to remove it. If you cannot handle it, don't watch it.

Stevo

[Big A]

I'm sure people can make the decision for themselves, there is no reason to remove it. If you cannot handle it, don't watch it.

Stevo

This is the same internet where I watched an american being BEHEADED. If you don't want to see it, scroll past, or don't click.

[SS Junk]

You can plainly see people getting bowled over by debris.

[Venix]

Holy shit...


I don't know what else to say. That is just so terrible.

[Big A]

Current count is 7 people. I feel for their families, but it could have been much much worse. By 50 feet even.

[ZYouL8R]

Not sure of the gear sequence of the P51, maybe initially he felt the problem and hit the gear lever incase he could recover the aircraft to the field? At that altitude everything is reflex and muscle memory. Might just be step one of the low level checklist and he followed it like any good pilot would.

Considering he was doing over 500mph when the incident happened, I doubt he would try to lower the gear at that time. I don't know what the max gear speed is, but it's probably closer to 200KIAS. Like stated above, the tail wheel dropping was probably a result of the high G.

[onemeangixxer7502]

Considering he was doing over 500mph when the incident happened, I doubt he would try to lower the gear at that time. I don't know what the max gear speed is, but it's probably closer to 200KIAS. Like stated above, the tail wheel dropping was probably a result of the high G.

I highly doubt VLE is anywhere near 200 indicated. Who knows though

[bottlerocket]

Considering he was doing over 500mph when the incident happened, I doubt he would try to lower the gear at that time. I don't know what the max gear speed is, but it's probably closer to 200KIAS. Like stated above, the tail wheel dropping was probably a result of the high G.

Pulling a 9+ G turn will bleed airspeed surprisingly fast

I highly doubt VLE is anywhere near 200 indicated. Who knows though

Hell, VLE for the typical military trainer is 150

[onemeangixxer7502]

Pulling a 9+ G turn will bleed airspeed surprisingly fast



Hell, VLE for the typical military trainer is 150

On aircraft of that time? I figured slower because of slower aircraft