Pilot of Galloping Ghost struggled as nose pitched down. Plane crashed and impacted six or seven boxes in the grandstands.
I found and watched a video of it......there are many dead.
I'm thinking (not hoping) this could be the end of that event.
14 dead and 10 critical, plus many more injured as of the latest info.
Horrible
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Coupe #307 - 5-link, SAI mod, Levy DA Koni's, Levy bumpsteer, 6-piston Wilwood's in front, 4-piston in rear, Forte/Wilwood pedal assy, hybrid 8.8/9" rear end, VPM front bar, VPM/own design variable rear bar, and lot of other little things so far........
"Did you use ANYTHING that came with the kit???"
- The Wife
I was supposed to be there. Talked to my buddies at the event...not looking good.
Prayers to the families.
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I don't understand how the trim tab itself could cause the loss of control unless he had a lot of trim dialed in and when the tab released the aircraft got away from him.
That just doesn't make sense though. You would expect a racer to be set up very neutral in race trim so you wouldn't have to dial-in any trim and cause drag.
d
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Donald Rogus
3733k Stock 5.0, 3:55 gears, 15" Halibrands, '91 donor, Tremec 3550. "Arrest Me" Yellow / Black Stripes.
My car: a lightweight, precision-guided, sledgehammer.
We were at the hospital when ambulances started coming in. They initially said to expect 100+. Sadly 2 passed in the ER and thankfully only 22 were brought in. Many more "walking wounded" were treated and left. The hospital's reaction was spot on. They called a "code triage" over the pa and off-duty medical personnel started pouring in. They also asked those that could, to voluntarily vacate their beds to make way for the injured.
Security kept the news out of the hospital, and their staff sequestered the victim's family members in a separate part of the hospital for privacy. Really commendable and well thought out plans were impressive to watch.
Thank God for our first responders and medical professionals.
I don't understand how the trim tab itself could cause the loss of control unless he had a lot of trim dialed in and when the tab released the aircraft got away from him.
That just doesn't make sense though. You would expect a racer to be set up very neutral in race trim so you wouldn't have to dial-in any trim and cause drag.
d
All of the control surfaces are counterbalanced to prevent flutter (control surface oscillation/vibration). At the speed he was traveling, loss of the trim tab could have caused the balance to be lost, and a flutter condition to develop (think of a severe out of balance tire condition instantly appearing on an indy car at 225MPH in the middle of a turn) If severe flutter set in, lots of things are possible - elevator failure, control cable failure, etc.
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Coupe #307 - 5-link, SAI mod, Levy DA Koni's, Levy bumpsteer, 6-piston Wilwood's in front, 4-piston in rear, Forte/Wilwood pedal assy, hybrid 8.8/9" rear end, VPM front bar, VPM/own design variable rear bar, and lot of other little things so far........
"Did you use ANYTHING that came with the kit???"
- The Wife
Agreed, if you look at the video, he was pulling huge G's and the end (essentially a split S) so he'd be pinned at a minimum.
Not sure how the seat works in a P51 but if a seat slider failed and slid back (It's a failure that pilots need to watch out for), loss of control like that is common and can end deadly.
He rolled to the right which doesn't really follow with 'just' a failed trim tab unless it failed in such a way that it was out in the air at some really odd angle and even then, I can't imagine it overpowering the ailerons.
Also just noticed the tail wheel down which is very odd. That should have been well in it's up-lock.
Very very sad for the families involved, those that are hurt, and the air races. I believe also that this might be the end for Reno.
R
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BAD LANGUAGE!!! This video shows (.43s) Galloping Ghost. The plane jerks to the right and up, does a spiral and is inverted as the plane comes straight down into the stands.
Total conjecture here, but the pilot's head should have been visible in that shot. Maybe under the 3+ G turn, either the seat or the cockpit floor collapsed. If that happened, it's sure to foul the control cables and maybe the hydraulic line to the tailwheel. It's also possible that Galloping Ghost was using compressed air to retract the landing gear, as is sometimes done on Unlimiteds to save weight. I recall one race years ago when Darryl Greenamyer had a leak in his retract system and had to fly the Gold race with one of his main gear only partially retracted. If that's the case, it wouldn't take much damage to the line for the pressure to go to zero really quickly. I've never heard that it's possible to lower the tailwheel independent of the mains, so that photo might be a really important part of the puzzle.
Just a guess, but the more terrible the disaster, the more intense the need to find the cause.
... or at that point, the cables lose tension. I think I read somewhere that one of the witnesses reported seeing surface flutter, which could explain the loss of the trim tab, as well as control of the airplane. From there on out, Leeward would have been a passenger.
Interesting picture above. I don't think pilot slid to the rear; I found some earlier pics of Galloping Ghost and it looks like the rear of the cockpit is just slightly behind the plexiglass (see this one particularly: http://www.pacificflyer.com/wp-conte...ping-Ghost.jpg), so there's no room there to "hide".
I read somewhere that he declared a mayday, and it appears to me that the initial roll right was controlled, so those seem to be consistent. I believe standard practice is to "get off the racing line" (to the right in this case) and gain altitude, and that appears to be what he's doing at first. As the roll continues to the inverted position, though, any "back" elevator now becomes "down". My theory is that control was lost for some reason (mechanical or physical) near the top of his pull-out.
As for the tailwheel, I dimly recall reading something about Mustangs in the National Guard (toward the end of their military careers) having issues with the tailwheel and the fix was to lock them in down position. I'll see if I can verify.
I've seen at least one troll on another forum chastise the pilot for attempting a loop at low altitude. Yeah, that's what he was trying to do...
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This accident could have been so much worse. The Austin-Healey 100S driven by Lance Macklin in the 1955 LeMans disaster is coming up for auction and has had Healey guys looking at that accident. Here's some footage:
83 spectators died, 120 were injured by flying debris and Pierre Levegh, the Mercedes driver, also perished. I've read reports that some witnesses felt Leeward was able to pilot the P-51 to avoid hitting the crowd, while others say he was unconscious. Whichever is correct, a lot of people dodged a bullet that day.
The tailwheel issue wasn't what I thought it was - I was thinking some kind of failure that allowed the wheel to drop down in flight. Tailwheels were fixed down in 1953 because "The indicating system had been deactivated on the P-51B-5 and all C aircraft and subsequent Mustang production. This action made it possible to land with the tailwheel up unknown to the pilot." So, not an issue here.
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FFR3639. 5.0L + Paxton Novi 1000 = 368 RWHP. Need more twisty roads in Kansas...
The tailwheel issue wasn't what I thought it was - I was thinking some kind of failure that allowed the wheel to drop down in flight. Tailwheels were fixed down in 1953 because "The indicating system had been deactivated on the P-51B-5 and all C aircraft and subsequent Mustang production. This action made it possible to land with the tailwheel up unknown to the pilot." So, not an issue here.
That aircraft is so highly modified you can't really call it a P-51 anymore. The tailwheel IS retractable on that particular aircraft. Drag you know.
d
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Donald Rogus
3733k Stock 5.0, 3:55 gears, 15" Halibrands, '91 donor, Tremec 3550. "Arrest Me" Yellow / Black Stripes.
My car: a lightweight, precision-guided, sledgehammer.
All of the control surfaces are counterbalanced to prevent flutter (control surface oscillation/vibration). At the speed he was traveling, loss of the trim tab could have caused the balance to be lost, and a flutter condition to develop (think of a severe out of balance tire condition instantly appearing on an indy car at 225MPH in the middle of a turn) If severe flutter set in, lots of things are possible - elevator failure, control cable failure, etc.
I'm the supplier compliance and technical development engineer in the Production Flight department of a prominent business jet manufacturer John. I understand flutter.
The trim tab's coming off really looks like damage FROM flutter. However, in the pictures I've seen, there's no external damage (other than the trim tab) visible. None of the tail feathers look cocked, no apparent skin rippling.
The pictures posted here showing the pilot not in position in the canopy are clearly not what we'd expect. Seat failure?
d
__________________
Donald Rogus
3733k Stock 5.0, 3:55 gears, 15" Halibrands, '91 donor, Tremec 3550. "Arrest Me" Yellow / Black Stripes.
My car: a lightweight, precision-guided, sledgehammer.
I'm the supplier compliance and technical development engineer in the Production Flight department of a prominent business jet manufacturer John. I understand flutter.
The trim tab's coming off really looks like damage FROM flutter. However, in the pictures I've seen, there's no external damage (other than the trim tab) visible. None of the tail feathers look cocked, no apparent skin rippling.
The pictures posted here showing the pilot not in position in the canopy are clearly not what we'd expect. Seat failure?
That aircraft is so highly modified you can't really call it a P-51 anymore. The tailwheel IS retractable on that particular aircraft. Drag you know.
d
I agree on the model designation. When I posted the picture earlier my point about mods was more about extreme drag reduction efforts. There are numerous ducts in unusual places to replace the normally prominent belly scoop which has been shaved. The clipped wings and horizontal tail are very common.
Also, another thought comes to mind on why we may not see the pilot. I don't buy the "G" force moving him out of view argument if he was in the belts. We might want to consider that he pulled up to turn for center course for a bailout. If he had released the belts prior to the subsequent severe control problem he could have been pushed out of view and into the controls.
I had watched the news from the day before and had high hopes for Jimmy this year. As Lew stated above, this was a good man and I really was hoping to see him have a great year. I met him at Sun-n-Fun many years ago when I had flown a military plane in for static display. I became a fan because on top of being a nice guy, he was an underdog.
it's presummed he blacked out from the g's like Bob Hannah, only hannah being belted in, the plane reacted by going up as it probably would have if Leeward was properly secured in also.
There might be other pilot error, though. Planes aren’t like cars; improper control settings can cause damage to the plane even in the absence of a defect or a collision. Leeward could have been using excessive trim inputs to assist with the tu it also appears that Leeward didn’t lock his shoulder harness to stop him from slumping forward, which is why you can barely see him in the plane. His torso probably contacted the stick causing the plane to roll (unlike Bob Hannah, who had a locked harness). The videos show him hitting the ground at full power, so he was not conscious
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P-51 crash at Reno air races.......
At least I got to go once. 
Nemo
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