Reno Airplane Races and Air Shows

The Reno Air Race crash of Jimmy Leeward puts the sport of air racing into question. RIP.

The 9 spectator deaths and 50 injuries make lawsuits inevitable. RIP. The Tort legal system will, over time, sort out better ways to conduct the air races.


The Reno Air Races crash: Who is legally accountable? - Golf Hotel Whiskey



Airplane Crash Liability and the Reno National Championship Air Races


There was a Breaking News Thread on the crash


http://www.debatepolitics.com/break...ooking-into-caused-deadly-crash-air-show.html


The NTSB investigations often leave out some issues or details that are important for assessing liability, or for forming better race rules, or better Air Race promototer guidelines. The NTSB usually focuses on some design improvement options. It may be difficult to detect if flutter was a factor in the inital stages of the crash sequence, and to what extent shortening the wings and Aerelons may have contributed to the crash, orthe effect of any air frame modifications were made to gain a speed advantage over other P-51 competitors.


Air races had a following among military pilots, student pilots, radio controlled airplane enthusiasts, and motor sports followers. Air races and shows have as large a yearly attendance as the NFL



"Federal officials announced on Sunday that they had recovered real-time flight information and a possible memory card from a video camera aboard the plane that crashed into a crowd at a Reno air race, killing nine people and injuring dozens of others."


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/us/flight-data-recovered-from-plane-in-reno-air-race-crash.html



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Jimmy Leeward was active in the Experimental Aircraft Association. an organization to advance Aviation.


EAA News - NTSB Has Recorded Data of Reno Crash



Experimental Aircraft Association - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Some photos show that the Gallping Ghost pilot was not visible inthe cockpit, and not in a command position, but some witnesses say the pilot guided the plane away from the stands during the last seconds. It may be possible that Leeward was just regaining consciusness, in the last few seconds, and had enough presence of mind to guide the P-51 away from the grandstands.



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The Reno Air Race Promoters reportedly carried $100 Million dollars in Insurance Coverage. The Insurance carriers ordinarily need a showing of neligence, in order to pay claims. It seems somebody should have been negligent, if an airplaine falls out of the sky. There was a similar problem with the Air France Air Bus that fell out of the sky over the Atlantic ocean. Until the plane was found, it was not clear who was negligent.

The NTSB Preliminary report does not seem to identify negligence for the Reno P-51 Tragedy.

WPR11MA454


Automobile races do not put breaking stress on the cars, ordinarily, so race cars rarely come apart. The stresses are more predictable on the race oval surface. In Air Races, and Air Shows, the planes are stressed beyond normal flying limits, and put stress in the safety factor range. Maybe sometimes beyond the safety factor range. To collect insurance, there will most likely be a review of Air Race procedures in the US Courts.

Air races and Air shows have probably contributed to the development of Aviation over the years. There does not seem to be a mechanism to provide insurnace coverage for spectators, unless someone has made a mistake.


Here is a video of Jet Air races at Reno Nevada.

Reno Air Race 2008 Jet Racing Nevada - YouTube


Perhaps there could be an extra optional charge for spectator tickets, with personal injurly insurance, that would pay in the event of any injury caused by an airplane, regardless of fault of pilots, promoters or Aircraft manufacturers. Similar to flight insurance available for any injuries or deaths traveling on airliners. Because spectator deaths and injuries have been so rare at air races and air shows, there has previously been little market for Air Show Specator insurance.




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Here is a link to A Breaking New thread discussing the Air France jet that fell out fo the sky, and teh problems of conventional liability insurance:

http://www.debatepolitics.com/break...r-france-plane-disappears-above-atlantic.html


ASSOCIATED THREAD


http://www.debatepolitics.com/break...89-air-france-terrorist-attack-after-all.html






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This was a thread on the discovery of the Air France black box, which discusses the limitations of liability insurance. The idea that an airplane stops flying does not, in itself, mean that a negligent act can be proven, so that recovery can be made under liability insurance.


http://www.debatepolitics.com/consp...ir-france-flight-data-recorder-recovered.html
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Here is a detailed account of the accident sequence, as available about September 20,2011.


"The early images we saw on the internet show the missing trim tab… that’s when we had strong reason to believe that the trim tab was likely the focus of the problem. But the sequence of three pictures that appear to be taken from the same camera and over a relatively short period of time show the tab still attached in what appears to be well into the crash sequence. Why is the tab attached if we’ve already seen the abrupt pitch up and the apparent loss of control? I believe it’s because the pushrod is what failed first, allowing the trim tab to be free to float."

" The tailwheel was visible and I understand that the undercarriage lever (and tailwheel lock) is operated from a lever to the left side of the seat. If the seat collapsed then the undercarriage down lever could have been pushed and the wheels released. "



Remembering Jimmy Leeward & The Galloping Ghost P 51 NX79111 After The Reno Airshow Crash – (TCP)CHICAGO



http://www.flyingmag.com/news/reno-crash-update-telemetry-data-emerges?cmpid=enews092011


Views 137

"Here are some telemetry data from the P-51 “Galloping Ghost” Airspeed around pylon 7 - 495 mph. When the trim tab broke off the aircraft pitched up pulling 21 G's and airspeed reduced to 375 mph. (Tail wheel popped out, pilot slumped below view). Throttle stayed wide open at 105 manifold pressure until impact. Airspeed at impact was 425 mph. The pilot would have most likely had GLOG at this point and been out for the duration. The fire was suppressed by a special foam that was in the tanks. "


Reno Crash Update: Telemetry Data Emerges | Flying Magazine | The World



"Looks like pilot went to sleep in the pull and was out for the duration. The fire was suppressed by a special foam that was in the tanks.

In the crash 11 people were killed including the pilot. If it wasn't for the foam, the fatalities would have been many more."




P-51 Galloping Ghost Reno crash telemetry data


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I haven't read your links thoroughly, but has anything been made of the fact that Leeward could not be visible in his cockpit during the last moments before the crash? IIRC there was speculation that his seat had fallen backwards, hence why his head could not be visible in the cockpit.

StillBallin75 said:

I haven't read your links thoroughly, but has anything been made of the fact that Leeward could not be visible in his cockpit during the last moments before the crash? IIRC there was speculation that his seat had fallen backwards, hence why his head could not be visible in the cockpit.

Click to expand...

The Telemetry data indicates 21 G force on the inital nose up. 10 G can cause unconciousness. Calculations in the comments show a force on the seat of 2000 Pounds of force at 10 G. The seat was subjected to forces that could be beyond resonably designed fighter pilot seats,of that day.

Once a pilot realizes his plane is in a dive, heading toward the ground, the first instincitve move is for the pilot to push in the throttle rod, toward the dash board, that is close to the stick. So Leeward is surmised to have been unconscious from the Nose Up movement, until he hit the ground. The Throttle rod was still at high speed, indicated by 105 manifold pressure.

No conscious moves have been clearly demonstrated, but some witnesses said that the Galloping Ghost was headed toward the stands, and turned to the tarmac at the last seconds.

The reason that Leeward was not visible in the cockpit canopy may have been that the seat was broken, or may have been due to his harness having been not tight enough, or the harness may have torn, or broken.

The Tail Wheel was deployed, and the Tail Wheel release lever is near the left side of the seat, so another indication that the seat broke, may be that the seat might have pushed the Tail Wheel release lever, when the seat broke.


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Gladiator said:

The Telemetry data indicates 21 G force on the inital nose up. 10 G can cause unconciousness. Calculations in the comments show a force on the seat of 2000 Pounds of force at 10 G. The seat was subjected to forces that could be beyond resonably designed fighter pilot seats,of that day. Once a pilot realizes his plane is in a dive, heading toward the ground, the first instincitve move is for the pilot to push in the throttle rod, toward the dash board, that is close to the stick. So Leeward is surmised to have been unconscious from the Nose Up movement, until he hit the ground. No other conscious moves have been clearly demonstrated, but some witnesses said that the Galloping Ghost was headed toward the stands, and turned to the tarmac at the last seconds.

The reason that Leeward was not visible in the cockpit canopy may have been that the seat was broken, or may have been due to his harness having been not tight enough, or the harness may have torn, or broken.

The Tail Wheel was deployed and locked, and the Tail Wheel lever is near the left side of the seat, so another indication that the seat broke, may be that the seat might have pushed the Tail Wheel lever, when the seat broke.


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Click to expand...

So the initial cause of the violent vertical pitch upward is still, at this point, surmised to be the loss of the elevator trim tab? It still seems a bit incredible to me that the loss of a relatively small piece of aluminum could disrupt the aircraft's flight in such a major way.

StillBallin75 said:

So the initial cause of the violent vertical pitch upward is still, at this point, surmised to be the loss of the elevator trim tab? It still seems a bit incredible to me that the loss of a relatively small piece of aluminum could disrupt the aircraft's flight in such a major way.

Click to expand...

I agree with your logic, that the approximately 1 Inch wide 9 Inch long, trim tab nose downward assistance, should not cause a loss of control. But I had to reverse my opinion.


"The fact that back in 1998, when Bob Hannah was flying the Voodoo P-51 and experienced a failed elevator trim tab, he had the similar abrupt pull up. He passed out immediately from the G force and he was only in his early 40’s. The big difference between these two possibly similar situations is that Voodoo continued to climb for quite a while, reaching 9,000 feet before beginning to descend. This gave Hannah the time required to regain both consciousness and control of the airplane. He was able to land the airplane safely."

Remembering Jimmy Leeward & The Galloping Ghost P 51 NX79111 After The Reno Airshow Crash – (TCP)CHICAGO

"There was an incident during the 1998 Reno Air Races in which a trim tab came off a P-51 named Voodoo Chile. In that incident, also mentioned in AVweb's coverage, the aircraft pitched violently up, causing pilot Bob Hannah to black out under a G load estimated at 10 Gs. He regained consciousness at 9,000 feet and was able to land safely."


Trim Tab Missing On Reno Crash Plane? (Updated)


Jimmy Leeward may have regained a small amount of consciusness, and with only enough presence of mind to have pushed the stick forward, to avoid hitting the stands. Then there is the concept of spiritual envelope consciousness, so that even though his mind was unconscius, he was sufficiently spirituyally aware to direct his arm to save live by pushing down the stick. There have been some comments on some of the articles cited, that suggest Science only should be discussed. But her may be spiritual aspects of elements open to debate.


I read somewhere whe the force on a P-51 Trim Tab and 500 MPH is a real strain onl the cables, and is difficult for the pilot to get the thumb screw set. Thre is a lot of force on the cables for the Trim Tabs.


This article has some techinical info on trim tabs:

Why the Trim Tab on a Racer Matters So Much | Left Seat



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StillBallin75 said:

So the initial cause of the violent vertical pitch upward is still, at this point, surmised to be the loss of the elevator trim tab? It still seems a bit incredible to me that the loss of a relatively small piece of aluminum could disrupt the aircraft's flight in such a major way.

Click to expand...

When first hearing of the trim tab theory, I agreed with your logic, that the approximately 1 Inch wide 9 Inch long, trim tab nose downward assistance, should not cause a loss of control. But I had to reverse my opinion.


"The fact that back in 1998, when Bob Hannah was flying the Voodoo P-51 and experienced a failed elevator trim tab, he had the similar abrupt pull up. He passed out immediately from the G force and he was only in his early 40’s. The big difference between these two possibly similar situations is that Voodoo continued to climb for quite a while, reaching 9,000 feet before beginning to descend. This gave Hannah the time required to regain both consciousness and control of the airplane. He was able to land the airplane safely."

Remembering Jimmy Leeward & The Galloping Ghost P 51 NX79111 After The Reno Airshow Crash – (TCP)CHICAGO

"There was an incident during the 1998 Reno Air Races in which a trim tab came off a P-51 named Voodoo Chile. In that incident, also mentioned in AVweb's coverage, the aircraft pitched violently up, causing pilot Bob Hannah to black out under a G load estimated at 10 Gs. He regained consciousness at 9,000 feet and was able to land safely."


Trim Tab Missing On Reno Crash Plane? (Updated)


Jimmy Leeward may have regained a small amount of consciusness, and with only enough presence of mind to have pushed the stick forward, to avoid hitting the stands. Then there is the concept of spiritual envelope consciousness, so that even though his mind was unconscius, he was sufficiently spirituyally aware to direct his arm to save live by pushing down the stick. There have been some comments on some of the articles cited, that suggest Science only should be discussed. But her may be spiritual aspects of elements open to debate.


I read somewhere whe the force on a P-51 Trim Tab and 500 MPH is a real strain on the cables, and is difficult for the pilot to force the cable into position, to get the thumb screw set. Thre is a lot of force on the cables for the Trim Tabs.


This article has some techinical info on trim tabs:

Why the Trim Tab on a Racer Matters So Much | Left Seat



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