T-28C down in Danville, VA yesterday, two lost :(

[lmritger]

My dad just called to let me know about this, it was on the local Norfolk news last night; no word on identity of the aircraft or the pilot and passenger at the moment.

My thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of those lost.

http://www.godanriver.com/news/danville/two-killed-in-vir-plane-crash/article_b68a8988-404a-11e4-b3f7-001a4bcf6878.html

Lynn

[Rajay]

Sad news. My thoughts & prayers go out to the families of the two people who were killed.

"...The craft, a World War II T28-C, crashed in an infield patch of kudzu on the 1.1 mile Patriot Course."

The level of ignorance of the reporter is sad too. Can't even find his way to verify his "facts" as far as Wikipedia for example.

[ChrisK48]

This identifies the aircraft and victims. RIP

http://avstop.com/september_2014/tobc_o ... aceway.htm

[JohnH]

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/small-p ... y/28157536

[mlenoch]

Could someone verify that the crash occurred during aerobatics OR after aerobatics. Thx.

( I run safety seminars for warbird pilots. Such details are of value in safety education. FYI)

RIP.............
VL

[DoraNineFan]

Could someone verify that the crash occurred during aerobatics OR after aerobatics. Thx.

( I run safety seminars for warbird pilots. Such details are of value in safety education. FYI)

RIP.............
VL

One poor quality video shows a low zoom pass with smoke on, followed by a barrel roll and possible loss of control over the tree line, or just a loss of control on the climb. The aircraft rolled left and appeared to keep rolling.

[Dudley Henriques]

Could someone verify that the crash occurred during aerobatics OR after aerobatics. Thx.

( I run safety seminars for warbird pilots. Such details are of value in safety education. FYI)

RIP.............
VL

It could be highly relevant about the pre-crash smoke as to whether or not the airplane was equipped with a demonstration smoke system. I believe this remains to be discovered. If not, the pre-crash smoke could have been a factor in the crash.
As always, facts to follow.
Dudley

[Rob W]

...and journalists wonder why journalism is dying.

Perhaps if journalists started behaving like journalists their industry would not be drying up in front of them. "World War II" era aircraft? Pathetic.

However, as a journalist, I know that there is a weekend, on-call editor simply wanting to put "something" out in to the giant mixing bowl that is the Internet in hopes of getting more traffic across their "news" website. Sad, really.

What a tragic loss. Two individuals and a beautiful aircraft. Godspeed.

[Ken]

Sad news, sad news. Blue skies & tailwinds to friends and family.

Ken

[marine air]

This reminds me of several years ago, Jim Price, a FEDEX pilot was buzzing some friends and he flew a high speed pass followed with a vertical pull up. It stalled at the top and snapped into a spin. He wasn't even doing aerobatics, just a steep pull-up. I've known two people that have died doing that and I almost busted it once doing the same thing about 25 years ago.

[Chris Brame]

State police say it was a World War II single-engine plane.

Guess the reporter was just repeating the police statement? They didn't say he was an investigative reporter...

[Rajay]

This reminds me of several years ago, Jim Price, a FEDEX pilot was buzzing some friends and he flew a high speed pass followed with a vertical pull up. It stalled at the top and snapped into a spin. He wasn't even doing aerobatics, just a steep pull-up.

I believe that even that "vertical pull up" still qualifies as aerobatics...

14 CFR 91.303 includes the statement that "for the purposes of this section, aerobatic flight means an intentional maneuver involving an abrupt change in an aircraft's attitude, an abnormal attitude, or abnormal acceleration, not necessary for normal flight."

And 14 CFR 91.307 requires the pilot to wear a parachute for any maneuvers which exceed "a bank of 60 degrees relative to the horizon; or... a nose-up or nose-down attitude of 30 degrees relative to the horizon."

[Rob W]

Guess the reporter was just repeating the police statement? They didn't say he was an investigative reporter...

Verify, verify, verify. Police get things wrong constantly (street names, county names, etc.), especially when they communicate via press release, email, etc. It's absurd how poor writing skills in this country have become. That's the difference between cops and reporters: Cops relays to you what they think happened, a reporter (investigative or not) finds out the truth.

Enough of that.

Was looking through some negatives last night and I happened to see this particular T-28 at Thunder Over Michigan 2004. I thought it was a neat touch to have the VF-1 'Wolfpack' flash along the top of the vertical stabilizer.

[Kyleb]

And 14 CFR 91.307 requires the pilot to wear a parachute for any maneuvers which exceed "a bank of 60 degrees relative to the horizon; or... a nose-up or nose-down attitude of 30 degrees relative to the horizon."

Isn't there an exclusion for solo flight?

[Stephan Wilkinson]

It wasn't a solo flight. The pilot's mother, of all people, was in the back seat. She too was killed.