http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/17/earlyshow/saturday/main20107684.shtml

I wonder if it is not time to ground the originals and race replicas?

Regulate air shows! They are dangerous!

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

You could just ban air crashes. Its the stop at the end that is the problem !!

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

I remember going to the races out side of Phoenix when I lived out there. Never understood why people would stand so close to the race path. The planes are doing in excess of 500mph in the unlimited classes barely 100 feet off the deck. If a plane were too loose control on the front side as happened here, it's all over. I always stood farther back and toward the end of the straight. I think having the spectator area farther away from the race circuit would be a safer idea.

As for grounding the older planes. I do not think it has anything to do with the age of the planes. These things are maintained as well as any new aircraft and it does not look like a structural failure (no pieces looked like they were missing). I just think they went out side the performance envelope. The pilots are pushing these planes and them selves to the very limit and sometimes stuff breaks or things just for wrong.

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

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.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

It sounds like they need to sit further away from the planes.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Adrenaline junkies. All of are susceptible to it. Reminds me of the injuries at that dirt track race in the dark. People standing right next to the track.

I dig the old planes, but I won't be going to any air shows. The pilot was what, 80? I hope to be active at that age but maybe it's wise to know one's limits.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

There you go with common sense again Tom! Sounds like the thing to do alright.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

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!

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

They should just ban old people.

__________________
'07 Yukon 2500
'13 Subaru Outback 3.6R
'13 Orbea Carpe 9-speed

Currently Benzless
Formerly: 300TD, S600, E55, 560SEL

---= The forest breathes, listen.
-Native American elder

I am (and the Mrs. would totally agree) the MASTER of the obvious!

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I'd rather see replicas. Not because the old planes are somehow unsafe, but because they have historical significance and they ain't buildin' no more of them.

But even clean-sheet designs can crash and burn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_Pond_Racer#Problems_and_tragedy

Not one of Burt Rutan's finest days. As far as spectators being so close to the race course, no one forced them to attend the races. Perhaps have a rule requiring people under 18 to stand further back.

There are pictures that do show evidence of a mechanical problem, it will likely be a while before anyone knows for sure what happened though.

You're talking about piston planes flying at > 500 mph, the speed of a modern jetliner, and pulling hard G's while they're at it. The engines and airframes must be stressed as hell, no surprise if there was a failure. It's a dangerous sport, the racers know it, and the spectators should accept it as well.