As for the T28 ....
We saw him fly at Winston Salem Airshow 2 weeks before this, also puzzled by the outcome of the roll......
Same here...he completed 270 degrees of the roll, then just stopped.
__________________ Flying is the answer...What was the question?
Doug
Arrival: 11/26/06 (My Birthday) Roller: 4/20/08 First Start & Gokart: 10/18/08 Body back on for the first time since delivery: 1/18/09 Registered: April 2010 Graduation: When it's finished!
__________________ Flying is the answer...What was the question?
Doug
Arrival: 11/26/06 (My Birthday) Roller: 4/20/08 First Start & Gokart: 10/18/08 Body back on for the first time since delivery: 1/18/09 Registered: April 2010 Graduation: When it's finished!
With the picture evidence shown to date, the tab didn't break off before the pitch up. So wouldn't it be more likely the cable(or whatever system was used) broke that holds the tabs in the desired place. Then after that it just fluttered until snapping off in the inverted position in the role over.
And if the 21 G's is correct, it just proves that this aircraft was not some fatiqued old warbird. That kind of force could snap entire wings off some older planes, as seen in older war footage.
__________________
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As I have said all along, and it is just speculation on my part from working next to some of these air racers and speaking with crews that have had devastating crashes in the past, but I think something happened and Leeward pulled up to get altitude. This allows the pilot time to address the issue and the altitude needed to bail out if neccessary. Obviously he wouldn't have pulled up enough purposely to induce 20+ Gs but somewhere there QUICKLY things went from bad to worse, and at some point, looks like probably early on based on the telemetry, he became a passenger. Again, as I said previously, at that point it was in the hands of god, luck, or whatever and it's just good that more were not killed or injured.
Couple things from looking at those excellent groups of pictures. Thanks for those links BTW. Answers alot of the questions I had.
Really surprised at how much of the original plane was actually there. Would have thought many more things would have been changed. The plane I saw up close many years ago was this way, mostly original, but I figured things had changed in the last 10-15 years.
REALLY feel for the crew. Obviously a labor of love, and coming from a high level of auto racing, I can tell you that putting your heart and soul into a machine just to have it crashed in sometimes only 10 minutes or so of use is frustrating and disappointing, but I'm sure it is nothing like what these guys feel when looking at that empty spot in the hanger. My heart goes out to them, and seeing this happen to the people next door to me at an airport, I can tell you that everyone of those guys is fighting guilty feelings and thoughts that if they might have done something different...
On the flip side, Mr. Leeward died doing something he loved and I don't think, other than the unfortunate loss of others lives, he would have wanted to go out in any other fashion. Obviously it is the survivors that need help now, and I just hope that the family and crew members find a way to come to terms with this incident.
In the video you can see the plan rolled sharply to the left then jerk up and over. Could something have happened in the turn that caused the plane to over rotate and he went to correct/over correct and tha'ts what caused the elevator/cable to break?
1987 Buick Grand National (All original with only 16k miles)
1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport (Currently undergoing a frame off restoration)
1965 Buick Riviera 401 car, unrestored survivor, driver.
2005 F150 FX4, Supercrew (Daily Driver)
2001 Dodge Grand Caravan (Beater)
Still, spec cars and restrictor plates are a far cry from an "electronic speed limiter" like this guy is talking about.
I race in an unlimited class. I personally go about 140 MPH or so down the straights with 380 RWHP. We are currently building 550+ HP engines to up things a bit. I have no doubt that 200 MPH is in everyones sights. Is this absolutely safe when we are on track with ~100 MPH Miatas? Nope. But I still feel much safer than driving on the freeway to get to the races!
That was a pretty good write up and consensus as to what occurred, but I certainly could of done without the religious aspect of it.
Much of that last section was just silly. I don't think the religious comments made sense and what do they have to do with the accident? He lost me even more with the 450mph speed limit for an unlimited class???
I started to add a disclaimer about those aspects of the article but figured overall the content was good.
An explanation for the rippling of the skin in this shot is the large torque from way more power than original design intended. Passed on from someone apparently in the know....makes sense?
An explanation for the rippling of the skin in this shot is the large torque from way more power than original design intended. Passed on from someone apparently in the know....makes sense?
Not really, the majority of the torque would be between the firewall and the wings - the tail area would see very little if any of it.
__________________
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"Did you use ANYTHING that came with the kit???"
- The Wife
"Some people say this was an accident," said Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who filed the civil liability lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Sezen Altug, a physician and widow of dead spectator Craig Salerno, and their two children, ages 6 and 8. "But it seems to me the formula that they created made an accident inevitable."
Some folks will stoop to bottom feeder levels for a buck.
So, do I sue General Motors if I get hit while standing on the corner by a drunk driver in a Camaro, and I loose my legs? Yeah, it's GM's fault they made the car too heavy, and all that weight crushed my legs.
1987 Buick Grand National (All original with only 16k miles)
1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport (Currently undergoing a frame off restoration)
1965 Buick Riviera 401 car, unrestored survivor, driver.
2005 F150 FX4, Supercrew (Daily Driver)
2001 Dodge Grand Caravan (Beater)
Inevitable and unfortuately, more valid that most similar actions, although it sounds like Buzbee is trying to manufacture a conspiracy by bringing up the lobbying angle. The organizers are going to have a pretty bumpy time ahead. It's the third example of trim tab failure that sent a 450 mph airplane out of control. No doubt the plaintiffs will argue that the risk was obvious, but ignored. I'm not sure they can prove negligence on the part of the mechanic or Leeward's team, but then again, Leeward's pockets are the deepest.
I can't see how the NTSB/FAA can sign off on an operation plan that will allow the races to continue, not for the unlimiteds, anyway. It's possible that those planes are too fast for the existing course and with development east and west of Stead airport, they probably can't expand the course in those areas to reduce the g-loads of the turns. I have to say, I was never totally at ease looking at the nose of a hard-pressed Mustang or Bearcat rounding turn 8, even from a half mile away. Sad deal all around.
Some folks will stoop to bottom feeder levels for a buck.
So, do I sue General Motors if I get hit while standing on the corner by a drunk driver in a Camaro, and I loose my legs? Yeah, it's GM's fault they made the car too heavy, and all that weight crushed my legs.
GTFOH!
Bottom feeders? Really? I'm sorry, but I don't see any reasonable comparison between the basis of the lawsuit and your scenario. Not to mention that the plaintiff will prevail in her suit.
__________________
Bob
Everybody is entitled to my opinion!
Non-donor MK II, FFR-5163K, Ford Racing 302, Tremec, Team III Wheels, Red w/Silver Stripes.
I lived in Houston for a half-dozen years or so. Buzbee is a "billboard plaintiff's lawyer" down there -- you can see a few of his signs along the major freeways. One of my law school classmates worked at that firm for awhile. I'll have to ping him and see if he's still there, and if he's working on this suit.
I have no opinion about whether the claim has merit or not. I have an opinion (really just more of a statistical likelihood) that it will likely settle pre-trial.
Cheers, John
__________________
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The board did not offer a probable cause for the accident, but reconstructing the events through videos, telemetry data, and more than 500 still photographs traced the start of the accident sequence to a roll upset after the aircraft rounded Pylon 8 in the third lap of the Unlimited Class qualifying round.
Between pylons 8 and 9 the aircraft rolled sharply left to a bank angle of about 90 degrees, an as-yet-unexplained upset that the NTSB described as the beginning of a sequence that resulted in 11 deaths and scores of casualties. In the next nine seconds, the aircraft pitched up sharply, shot into the air, and plunged into the box seat area in front of the main grandstand. Hersman played video and showed photographs illustrating key moments of the flight.
The first visual evidence of something abnormal is in a photograph taken as the aircraft rolled back to the right after the upset, Hersman said: The left trim tab, which had been deflected up, was moving downward as the tailwheel began to extend from its housing. However, it wasn’t until six seconds after the initial roll upset, she said, that the trim tab departed from the aircraft—a departure that had led to widespread speculation after the crash.
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The NTSB is pretty darned sharp from what I've seen in the past. If it is at all possible to reconstruct and decompile an event, they are the organization for the job.
The deaths and injuries are an extremely unfortunate byproduct of that event and many others like it in the past and (unfortunatley) future.. The very best we can do is to expose any risks so that they may be mitigated ahead of time or at least understood.
__________________
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National Transportation Safety Board
Office of Public Affairs
Deteriorated Parts Allowed Flutter Which Led to Fatal Crash at 2011 Reno Air Races
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.
The accident airplane was in third place during the third lap of the six-lap race and was traveling about 445 knots when it experienced a left roll upset. After the left roll upset, the airplane entered a right rolling climb maneuver during which the vertical acceleration peaked at 17.3 G, and a section of the left elevator trim tab separated in flight. The characteristics of the airplane's pitch changes during the upset were such that the pilot's time of useful consciousness was likely less than 1 second. As a result, the pilot soon became completely incapacitated, and the airplane's continued climb and helical descent occurred without his control.
The accident airplane had undergone many structural and flight control modifications that were undocumented and for which no flight testing or analysis had been performed to assess their effects on the airplane's structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics. The investigation determined that some of these modifications had undesirable effects. For example, the use of a single, controllable elevator trim tab (installed on the left elevator) increased the aerodynamic load on the left trim tab (compared to a stock airplane, which has a controllable tab on each elevator). Also, filler material on the elevator trim tabs (both the controllable left tab and the fixed right tab) increased the potential for flutter because it increased the weight of the tabs and moved their center of gravity aft, and modifications to the elevator counterweights and inertia weight made the airplane more sensitive in pitch control. It is likely that, had engineering evaluations and diligent flight testing for the modifications been performed, many of the airplane's undesirable structural and control characteristics could have been identified and corrected.
The investigation determined that the looseness of the elevator trim tab attachment screws (for both the controllable left tab and the fixed right tab) and a fatigue crack in one of the screws caused a decrease in the structural stiffness of the elevator trim system. At racing speeds, the decreased stiffness was sufficient to allow aerodynamic flutter of the elevator trim tabs. Excitation of the flutter resulted in dynamic compressive loads in the left elevator trim tab's link assembly that increased beyond its buckling strength, causing a bending fracture. The flutter and the failure of the left elevator trim tab's link assembly excited the flutter of the right elevator trim tab, increasing the dynamic compressive loads in the right elevator trim tab's fixed link assembly beyond its buckling strength, causing a bending fracture. The investigation found that the condition of the trim tab attachment screws' locknut inserts, which showed evidence of age and reuse, rendered them ineffective at providing sufficient clamping pressure on the trim tab attachment screws to keep the hinge surfaces tight.
Unfortunately, those same modifications they decry were exactly what were needed to make it fly like a bat out of hell. Stable, safe, and well tested vehicles rarely win races.
__________________
Selling current project, got the boss' approval for a FFR!
"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."
and the Board Meeting has this one:
"Require aircraft owners, as a condition of eligibility to participate in the Reno [NCAR], to provide an engineering evaluation that includes flight demonstrations and analysis within the anticipated flight envelope for aircraft with any major modification, such as to the structure or flight controls. (A 12 13) [Safety Recommendation A-12-13 is classified "Open—Acceptable Response."]
Was it standard practice for air racers to notify the FAA of modifications or was this just a rule that no one ever enforced?
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Telemetry from Galloping Ghost!
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