P-51 Mustang crash at air race in Reno 09-2011 - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

The Clk Man · #31 09-17-2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Swede

Younger than you

Ok, i'm so old that I fart dust. Is that what you are saying?

The Swede · #32 09-17-2011, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

Ok, i'm so old that I fart dust. Is that what you are saying?

..and you need to be banned.

t walgamuth · #33 09-17-2011, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmash

I wish WVO would chime in but from what I have read so far this was not a frame or age related failure. The photo I saw was.of a trim elevator on tbe tail. I god be surprised if that were original to the plane.

This is a motor sport. The machines are pushed to their limits. This may have been a case where it was pushed farther but that does no indicate a structural failure.

Just my opinion.

I don't know much about flying a plane and I don't know what a trim tab is but in the race car analogy if you are cranked over in a maximum g turn you cannot make a slight adjustment without losing control. So a lost trim tab might be a correctable difficulty when one is simply flying along but if one is cranked over banking hard in a maximum g turn and the trim tab goes south it might be just what it took to put the plane into a non reversible skid.

MS Fowler · #34 09-17-2011, 11:28 PM

A friend of mine is fond of pointing out whenever some is killed by a train, that they cannot follow you off the tracks--stay away from the RR tracks and you won't get killed by a train.
Similarly--stay away from air races and the likelihood of dying as the result of a race plane accident is greatly diminished. i.e Sit further away.

tbomachines · #35 09-18-2011, 12:44 AM

A true tragedy, my gf read the news to me in the car last night in graphic detail

best to those involved.

Jim B. · #36 09-18-2011, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryBible

This is correct. Aircraft receive an Airworthiness Certificate after post production testing. They go through annual inspections which involve disassembly and thorough inspection and whatever maintenance necessary. The aircraft MUST pass inspection and be have airworthiness directives up to date to maintain their legal as well practical airworthiness. All this must be done to maintain the validity of the Airworthiness Certificate. There are many aspects of the ongoing airworthiness of a plane and the necessary logs that are too lengthy to explain here. They are better maintained than any car you ever saw.

Any pilot with common sense ENSURES that inspections and maintenance are kept up with. The thought of something going wrong with the aircraft in flight is sobering to any pilot. It takes me 15 minutes to do a preflight inspection before I go up for any amount of time. It's MY butt in that plane, and I've kind of gotten attached to living.

In the case of the Mustang, a typical uninformed news reporter said that the trim tab broke. The trim tab has minimal effect on aircraft control and can be overridden. It might be that the elevator control broke. I fully expect the NTSB and FAA to get to the bottom of it.

Outlawing a plane because it is old would be as big brother as outlawing air races because someone might get hurt. This is the USA.

Thank you for your illuminating statement from which I am certain the families and relatives and friends of the dead and the surviving vics will derive great comfort.

TwitchKitty · #37 09-18-2011, 12:23 PM

I was speaking from a preservation point of view and not from a safety concern. Almost all of the people who fought WWII are already gone. It is a shame to destroy the old aircraft by racing them. They are a part of history and a non-renewable resource.

On the other hand, replicas would probably be built in china and that wouldn't make me happy.

Banning old people is nature's domain, can't stop it if you try.

spdrun · #38 09-18-2011, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwitchKitty

On the other hand, replicas would probably be built in china and that wouldn't make me happy.

Doubt it -- air-racing aircraft are purpose build machines (think F1 cars), not something that you can mass-produce. Even that P-51 likely had very little in common with an original WW II fighter.

The Clk Man · #39 09-18-2011, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Swede

..and you need to be banned.

Well, well, well, I think you should be banned.

The Swede · #40 09-18-2011, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

Well, well, well, I think you should be banned.

I'm younger than me, so I'm all good!

cmac2012 · #41 09-18-2011, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryBible

I think that you should give the NTSB a call. Since you have it all figured out, it sure would save us a lot of taxpayer money in doing a COMPLETE investigation.

You sir, have no idea what you're talking about. On several fronts, he is safer in that plane than many people are when driving down the road.

First of all, in order to fly he goes through a medical exam that many young people couldn't pass. Second of all, since it's obvious that you've never taken the controls of an airplane, experience, known as flight time is EVERYTHING in flying. Give me a healthy, high time 76 year old at the controls over a young, low time pilot ANY time!!!!!!!!!

There was, and I think she's even still alive, a high time flight instructor in Tennessee that was flying and teaching at the age of 100. In flying, flight time is EVERYTHING!

Spare me. Reflexes, eyesight, etc. will go downhill. Comes to all of us. Denying it won't change it.

Yes people get hurt on the highway. Don't very often have scenes of mass trauma with arms and legs and multiple gallons of blood on the ground in a spectator arena.

I read different accounts of the pilot's age - 74 to 80.

Botnst · #42 09-18-2011, 02:47 PM

Age isn't the issue. If the guy passes his annual flight physical then there is no medical reason he shouldn't fly, regardless of age.

Put another way, there are old pilots and there are bold pilots. There are no old, bold pilots. This guy was old.

spdrun · #43 09-18-2011, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Spare me. Reflexes, eyesight, etc. will go downhill. Comes to all of us. Denying it won't change it.

Those can be tested.

Fact is, the plane lost a portion of a major control surface while being flown at low altitude at 10/10ths. Chances are that would have been fatal even for a young pilot. We're not talking about an airliner losing a surface at 30,000 ft while straight and level here.