Warbird Information Exchange

I think this thread and the other thread on Reno air racing's future has been extremely interesting to me for the simple reason it went from "what happened?" to "sadness at what happened" to "lets discuss maturely and responsibly what happened" to credible experts here on WIX explaining "what they believed happened" to those same credible experts disecting "what probably happened" to a reasonable and respectful conclusion of "what most likely happened" to an extremely informative explanation of the workings of a modern warbird unlimited racer and what "could happen in a mishap" back in a kind of "full circle" to what the future of unlimited warbird air racing could and possibly will be. Congrats to the WIX community. I'm sure all of you who have had a say over the past week can be proud. Anyone who examines this board, no matter if media or investigators will find of most valuable.

But it still hurts to think about last Friday. hope I wasn't too tactless lol

NTSB Identification: WPR11MA454
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, September 16, 2011 in Reno, NV
Aircraft: NORTH AMERICAN/AERO CLASSICS P-51D, registration: N79111
Injuries: 11 Fatal, 66 Serious

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On September 16, 2011, about 1626 Pacific daylight time, an experimental North America P-51D, N79111, impacted terrain following a loss of control while maneuvering at Reno Stead Airport, Reno, Nevada. The airplane was registered to Aero-Trans Corp, Ocala, Florida, and operated by the pilot as Race 177 under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The commercial pilot sustained fatal injuries; the airplane sustained substantial damage. Casualties on the ground included 10 fatalities and 74 injured. As of the time of this preliminary report, eight of the injured remain hospitalized, some in critical condition. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed for the local air race flight, which departed from Reno Stead Airport about 10 minutes before the accident.

The airplane was participating in the Reno National Championship Air Races in the last event of the day. The airplane had completed several laps and was in a steep left turn towards the home pylon when, according to photographic evidence, the airplane suddenly banked momentarily to the left before banking to the right, turning away from the race course, and pitching to a steep nose-high attitude. Witnesses reported and photographic evidence indicates that a piece of the airframe separated during these maneuvers. After roll and pitch variations, the airplane descended in an extremely nose-low attitude and collided with the ground in the box seat area near the center of the grandstand seating area.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration examined the wreckage on site. They documented the debris field and identified various components of the airplane's control system and control surfaces. The wreckage was removed to a secure storage facility for detailed examination at a later date.

The airplane's ground crew noted that the airplane had a telemetry system that broadcast data to a ground station as well as recorded it to a box on board the airplane. The crew provided the ground station telemetry data, which includes engine parameters and global positioning satellite system data to the NTSB for analysis. The onboard data box, which sustained crush damage, was sent to the NTSB's Vehicle Recorder laboratory for examination. Investigators recovered pieces of a camera housing and multiple detached memory cards from the airplane's onboard camera that were in the debris field. The memory cards and numerous still and video image recordings were also sent to the Vehicle Recorders laboratory for evaluation.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Reno Air Race Association are parties to the investigation.

Guess the last post didn't get up....

I watched it and photographed it....

2 events, banking in the turbulence of the other aircraft.

THEN an abrupt pitch up when the trim tab failed.

The tab came off at the inboard attachment and then about 0.36 seconds later came off at the outboard attachment point.

Mark H

The tailwheel extended really early in the sequence of events. Almost looks like it came down milliseconds *before* the pitch up or simultaneously. That seems odd since at that point there wasnt enough g-force to break the uplock or am i missing something with the p-51 systems?

I am only in my 20s but someday I will fly it at airshows. I am getting rich really fast writing software and so I can afford to do really stupid things like put all my money into warbirds.

Greetings everyone, brand new to this forum.
I want to say this is the most professional forum I think I have ever seen and I applaud everyone here.
My son and I were at Reno and were in the stands when the accident happened. Luckily we were high enough to prevent any injury but that is something I hope neither one of has to see or hear again. Several of us thought he was just going to do an immelman over us and come around to land. Sadly that didn't happen. Thank God there was no fire.

I haven't seen it posted anywhere, there will be a memorial for Jimmy this Friday at 12:30. There is also a way for people to make donations if they wish. The link to his site is: http://www2.leewardairranch.com/

Voodoo also had telemetry with video. Here is a link to last years race: http://vimeo.com/15541909
If the memory cards they found are from GG and are readable, it should really help to determine if there was any flutter, etc. maybe get a little more insight.
Interesting watching the speeds and G meter on voodoo flying. Too bad they blanked out the engine parameters. LOL.

(guys, you use a motor to start the engine...)

Everybody involved in this business knows that motors are electric and engines are IC, but just as Naval Aviators call carriers "boats" even though they know they're ships--it's a kind of back-handed attempt to show they're pilots and are above such silly maritime differentiations--EVERYBODY in the car-racing business (I'm a pilot but an automotive journalist) calls engines "motors." Calling a racecar's engine "an engine" shows that you're an overly knowledgeable outsider. Strange and silly, but that's the way it is, and pedantically trying to correct them demonstrates the same thing.