Reno Race Accident Investigation Continues

Aero News Network ^ | Mon, Sep 19, 2011 | staff

[Atlas Sneezed]

How many spectators have been killed at stock car races when a car, tire, etc gets sent up into the stands during a crash?

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Well, if there were 7500 people present, and the event is 3(?) days long, once a year, the only air race event in the country, you have 25,000 spectator days per year. 9 dead in one year, plus 20 participant fatalities over the 60 year history.

Compare car racing. NASCAR alone has millions of spectator days per year, and all the other types of racing from small track to large probably give us 25,000,000 spectator days per year.

So if you want an indication of the seriousness of this accident, you’d have 9,000 car race spectators killed per year.

If you want to consider the 9 deaths in the context of 60 years, then that’s 150 car race spectator fatalities per year.

Still think kids should be allowed out there?

[PilotDave]

For the record, there are approx. 400 airshows per year in America with an annual attendance of 17 million. Nascar has an annual attendance of less than 4 million.

[cynwoody]

[taildragger]

Is this post the trim tab separation? I have heard of this photo, is this it?

Note the thick chord of the Elevator vs the Stabilizer. My guess they were looking for greater strength via the thickness as well as maybe getting the airflow not to separate and as stay laminar as it went over the gap, by causing it to accelerate. More effective elevator for a given span is my guess. I have seen this technique used on one Acrobatic Aircraft's Ailerons...

[PilotDave]

“Is this post the trim tab separation?”

No. This pic I just found and shows some buckling of fuselage. Classic damage caused by overstress.

[I cannot think of a name]

Somebody just posted a better picture at 103 and it looks as if he is flying with nose down trim cranked in. Probably too much to handle with a fixed tab. I also notice the elevators appear to be horn balanced. Many modern aircraft have had the balance weight redistributed along the leading edge which considerably improves flutter margins.

[Robe]

I was browsing around last night and came across a site that was discussing the crash. I was real puzzeling not to be able to see the pilot in the cockpit, considering it was modified and VERY tight fit.
Someone did some quick research and discovered someone took a pic of the A/C parked on the ground and manipulated the photo to show it in the air. The perp didn’t take the time to deal with the extended tailwheel and a missing pilot

[taildragger]

This is like some quack who performs unproven surgery. He’ll deserve his infamy richly

Boy you are harsh.

He may have meant in total given all the airframe and engine mods. Umlimited Clipped Wing Mustangs are not an unknown since the late 40's, it has been done many times. Maybe not as dramatic as this, but my guess is he is not the 1st to clip that much off. On top of that the Leeward family if I am not mistaken is not new to Mustangs or Racing at Reno.

Notice the Flow Fence to make the Ailerons more effective or are you not familar with aerodynamic design.

[I cannot think of a name]

I thought the same thing at first, but have begun to think otherwise. If you look at the photo in 103, it is obvious that his shoulder harnesses are on a long inertia reel to let him look for the pylons. And if you look at the view looking into the plane at the following link:

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/463880-big-crash-reno-3.html

It looks as if we may be seeing his helmet indicating he was all the way forward. Really wish I could find that picture in higher res, as it may just be a reflection

[cynwoody]

That Photo has been photo-shopped ... If you enlarge the image have a look at the spinner .. you can see a horizon line which is in-line with the fuselage, it should be perpendicular to the line of flight

Oops, looks like he forgot about shiny surfaces ...

But how about this one?

[Robe]

Yes I see that.. I guess an instantaneous 9+G's could break you neck.....

[mad_as_he$$]

I believe that one is real. I just talked to the guy that was standing to the right of the guy that took it. It is exactly as he described it.

[mad_as_he$$]

I retract my support. The weather in the picture does not match the conditions at the time of the crash. It does match witness descriptions of the angle the plane came in at.

[cynwoody]

I retract my support. The weather in the picture does not match the conditions at the time of the crash. It does match witness descriptions of the angle the plane came in at.

You can see a video here.

Someone shouts Uh-o a couple of times, the audience rises to look, and, at about 22 seconds, you catch a very brief glimpse of the airplane coming in at a very steep angle (looks to be steeper than the photo in 110).

[EveningStar]

Aviation ping

[FReepaholic]

Also, why no fireball? The crash in WVA had a massive fireball.

Thank God there wasn't one. I read that people were covered in fuel from the crash. Would have been a lot more dead or injured if there had been a fireball.

[GBA]

From AVweb:

There was an incident during the 1998 Reno Air Races in which a trim tab came off a P-51 named Voodoo Chile.

In that incident, also mentioned in AVweb's coverage, the aircraft pitched violently up, causing pilot Bob Hannah to black out under a G load estimated at 10 Gs.

He regained consciousness at 9,000 feet and was able to land safely.

[hattend]

Another person who I can say knows nothing of the event, the planes, the pilots or the fans

If Reno Racing is allowed to continue I encourage you to go and at least walk the pits

During the races you can go to your car and listen on the radio.

[I cannot think of a name]

“Also, why no fireball?”

That’s bugged me from the beginning. Trying to remember things I learned 40 years ago about stoichiometric ratios, the only thing I can come up with is that the speed of the aircraft striking the ground nearly vertical produced such an explosion that the fuel simply atomized before the fuel air ration could ever get correct to support combustion.

And that’s kind of thin, but it is the only explanation I can come up with.