Warbird Information Exchange

It is Ladd. He was the T-6 race check pilot at Reno
was a number of years.
I don't believe the lawsuit went to trial but was settled
out of court with the EAA pushing Howard Pardue into
settlement (I could be wromg so don't quote me).

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Don't touch my junk!!

Sheesh, then this was the same decision process that lead to the accident at Tenerife all over again, thankfully without any loss of life. I didn't think it could happen again.

Jh

Dup.

Jack,

He has always been known as "Lad", which, he told me, was derived from the initials of his full name: Laird Ashley Doctor.

Julian

Makes sense. I was introduced to him at Reno has Lad.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Why would an experienced pilot like Ladd takeoff on an occupied runway? I can only guess. First, while visually clearing the runway is the norm, it may not have been prime those days, and one would not be looking for a problem with this level of pilots. A minor factor could be that we started to see larger formation flights over the years, especially at Osh. Some groups, some pilots in a hurry, began to shorcut that safety margin. I don't know if Ladd even flew in one of these groups. But I do know that of all the pre & post flight briefings, there was 10 times the emphasis given to being on time or putting on a good show than to safety procedures. Even with that accident, this is still partly the case. The 2 lead planes were pretty far down the runway(to give room for the following sections) and if Ladd took a glance he might not notice them. I asked lead about this, and Howard told me they briefied it and flew that way the previous day with Ladd. There was also a call on the radio, I" m not not sure if it was the air boss or a ground person, but it was something like "cleared to go". This may have missled Ladd. There is also some thought of it being such a hot day he could have been woosy, I put least stock in this.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I'd say all the above. Wanting to 'hit the mark', be on time, hot and dehydrated. Maybe in a bit of a hurry. Rarely is it one cause, but rather a cascade of bad things leading to the endpoint.

We need to remember not to repeat these mistakes. That is the take-home message. We all want togo home and fly again.

It WAS a very hot day, yet as I recall (and I watched several strap in) Lad may have been the about the only one suited up in Nomex while at least most in this flight were wearing very light clothing.

Thank you for your post Bill.

My father and I were the first to the hospital during this incident. The fact that lad survived can be partially attributed to the fact that A. he was wearing nomex flight suit and gloves and B. he was wearing a flight helmet. If i remember correctly he had very few surface injuries. Also during the crash the cockpit section slid away from the fire. This should be a reminder to all that protective gear could definately prove beneficial.

Taylor Stevenson

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Taylor Stevenson