The last nine seconds of the Galloping Ghost (Ignomini) Reno

Ignomini Home ^ | Sept. 19, 2011 | Ignomini

[Navy Patriot]

A discussion with pictures of the mechanical failure causing the Reno Air Race crash.

[Navy Patriot]

When you have a mechanical failure in an air race, you have about three heartbeats to figure out what failed and compensate.

[Pontiac]

Ping

[steve86]

Warning: I believe you can easily see pieces of reddish flesh in one of those photos.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I’m thinking that the seat frame failed when he went verticle.There is a frontal picture that is very clear and you cannot see him in the cockpit.The crash was bad eough but could have been alot worse. Thank God, it wasnt.

[Navy Patriot]

We know the left trim tab failed, we have a pic of it peeling away. If he tried to climb for altitude and time, the right elevator would work and start the climb, but alone might start a roll to the right. When the 51 inverted, he probably had not come off throttle, expecting to climb, and it was over, gravity and lift pulled the nose down, and he had no altitude (and one elevator) to pull out even if he could control the roll.

G forces would be high and something caused the tail wheel to deploy, a seat frame failure could explain that.

[Fire_on_High]

I zoomed it 400% and I’m *reasonably* sure it’s just red bunting from around the VIP boxes. Look at the red and blue near, then compare that to the pile several feet out...looks the same shade to me.

I can definitely understand why you’d think that tho...I wasn’t sure til I zoomed it.

[mad_as_he$$]

P-51 rear wheel latches fail at 7-8g’s.

[PiperShade]

Remarkable photo series !!

From what I’m reading latest speculation is Leeward had a seat failure (structural ? ) leading to the LOC incident.

Makes sense when one recalls a sporadic series of similar incidents in Cessna aircraft where seat lock failures were cited as cause leading to several ADs and, (as I recall, some notes in the pilot’s handbook regarding ensuring seat security).

OTOH the “Gs” pulled in racing are less than the aircraft - including the seat - was designed for. But metal fatigue is cumulative, and this was an old racer. Was the seat used even original or standard to the aircraft ?

I’m also puzzled by deployment of the tailwheel, (visible in several pre-crash photos). Could this be a consequence of the speculated seat failure ? Been a long time since I’ve read the P/F - 51 POM so I can’t even guess how/why this could happen.

IAC, some photos I’ve seen don’t show the pilot’s head visible in the canopy - where it should have been even unconscious - as these critters are very tight ! >PS

[Navy Patriot]

Likely the information we need will come from the P-51 community, they will remember and have recorded the unusual occurrences (such as unexpected tail wheel deployment) and the causes, finding a cause in common.

I believe an elevator tab failure should not cause an uncontrollable roll, so something else was also going on.

[PiperShade]

I agree !! >PS