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Aloha All, Gary Hudson wrote the following the evening of that VAL crash...sadly, Gary died of cancer a couple years later.
Date: 04/18/2000 2:22:21 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Gary Hudson
Hello All:
I guess by now you have all seen the newscasts about the airplane crash at the filming of "Pearl Harbor" in Hawaii. This is to quash any rumors and let you all know what happened and what is going on now. First: The airplane that crashed was a "Val" replica being flown by Gene Armstrong. It was the "231" Val, owned by the CAF. Second: Gene is OK. He suffered a broken finger, badly lacerated lip, and a bad black eye. He is out of the emergency room and being put into a "regular" room. He is sore and banged up, but amazingly in good shape. He is expected to be out of the hospital in a couple days. Third: What happened? We were in a flight of three Vals. Lead, me #2, and Gene #3. We were flying along a line of "dummy" P-40's simulating a bomb run for the cameras. We were supposed to fly down the line and they were going to blow several P-40s and a DC-3. We had previously done 4 passes behind the Zeros, but this pass was just the three Vals. We made one pass at 100 ft to check line and clearance from obstacles. The next pass was a rehearsal pass, "at altitude" to check camera view. The final pass was a "hot, cameras rolling, smoke only" pass. We were about 20 to 30 feet above the ground, in a "V" formation with about 10 ft separation, at about 140 knots. Immediately after passing the cameras, I heard a loud thump. I glanced to my left and saw Gene's Val inverted with the left wing missing. We were climbing out and I transmitted to Lead, "2's here.".
There was a lot of talk on the radio at that time. Lead and I did a circuit and then landed. I landed short and turned off before getting to the crash scene. I still have not seen the airplane, but at that time, I assumed Gene was gone and didn't really want to go down there. Gene had struck a palm tree on the set with his left wing, about 3 feet from the tip and the entire wing separated at the wing attach points. The airplane then snapped rolled left and struck the ground in an upright position and then tumbled to inverted before coming to rest. There was no fire although the tanks were almost full. I assume it did not burn because the engine tore loose and continued about 80 feet further than the fuselage.
About 20 minutes after shutdown, I was told Gene was alive, but badly hurt and was being transported. Lastly: What caused this? I really can't say. We had been down the line several times with the Zeros and one rehearsal without a problem. Gene and I were "stacked up" from Lead so altitude should have not been a problem. Maybe Gene just drifted to his left. I don't know. Well, that's about it. About halfway through this, I had to go down and give a statement to Disney's lawyers. NTSB will be here tomorrow. I can say that, while the flying we are doing is low, tight and fast, I don't find it any more dangerous than air shows. Sometimes, truly, "Fate is the Hunter".
Gary
Ps: Ms Sandra Armstrong just returned from the hospital and tapped on my door. She says Gene is sore but doing fine. He is in a room now (not the chapel, which is where he should spend the night).
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