[photobunny. via Flickr/CC]
A modified P-51 Mustang crashed violently into the edge of the grandstands at the Reno Air show on Friday, 16th September. Disaster occurred during a display routine, when a modified P-51 “Galloping Ghost” suddenly pitched upwards and rolled to the side, before plummeting to the ground towards the box seats of VIP spectators. The craft hit the tarmac in a near-vertical dive only metres away from the crowd and instantly disintegrated, sending debris that killed at least three people and injured more than 50 others.
Some of the witnesses stated that the crash appeared to be a result of a misjudged loop manoeuvre that went terribly wrong.
The pilot Jimmy Leeward died in the accident. The 74-year-old Jimmy was a renown air racing pilot and an owner of the “Galloping Ghost”. The Galloping Ghost has been around at Cleveland and Reno racing circuits for over sixty years.
This tragic accident is the second loss of a P-51 at an airshow during this very unfortunate season, which is bound to raise much discussion about the safety of airshows, regrettably once again in the context of operating vintage aircraft.
See also the following video clip from Fox 11.
Read more:
- http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/3-dead-56-hurt-in-air-show-crash-16051154.html
- http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0917/Reno-crash-raises-questions-about-the-future-of-air-races
- http://news.yahoo.com/3-dead-56-injured-horrific-reno-air-show-020656982.html
Seems like an elevator trim tab has failed and tore off, thus inducing an instable flight situation. This is clearly visible on some pictures from the race.
My compassion goes out to those who have lost a friend and / or relative at this crash. This morning it was in the news that 9 people – not 3 – have been killed.
My best wishes for quick recovery to all those who have been hurt at this crash.
Also: Pity for the Gallopping Ghost, IMHO one of the most beautiful reno racers ever.
It seems a T-28 also crashed in an airshow accident in Martinsburg, West Virginia, killing the pilot but no spectators.
My thoughts go also to the families and to those injured – I believe that many of the 67 listed as injured must be still fighting for their lives.
Thanks for new information; I know that I will be posting at least one more update on this tragic event during the day. An then there’s the T-28 fatality in West Va. What a horrible weekend.
The comment regarding a misjudged loop is inappropriate and misinformed – loops are not part of the Reno Air Race. The pitch up was most likely caused by the failed trim tab, although there is also the possibility the pilot initiated the pull up when he detected a problem.
A pull up would be the normal maneuver for a problem – it gets the aircraft out of the way of following aircraft and gives the pilot time to either deal with the problem or if necessary to aim the aircraft away from the crowd and bail out.
In this case it is more likely that the loss of the trim tab (used to reduce the pitch control forces) caused the control forces to exceed the pilot’s ability to maintain control and snapped the aircraft into a pull up. The pull up “G” forces may have also caused the pilot to blackout which would eliminate the option of recovery or bailing out.
A tragic accident that had nothing to do with a misjudged loop.
@Snowman58,
Thanks for the comment. This post was very much written during the hours after the accident, when confusion about what actually happened was rather widespread. I myself never thought that the manoeuvre was a part of an aerobatic routine as this obviously was the race. However, I must admit that seeing the Galloping Ghost in the first published videos, emerging in near-vertical dive from *behind* the grandstands was utterly confusing.
I expand on this topic and the loss of the trim tab in my follow-up post:
http://spitfiresite.com/2011/09/reno-p-51-crash-claimed-9-lives-69-injured-news.html