Airshow accident in Poland - Pilot killed

[lelebebbel]

Polish aerobatic pilot Marek Szufa was killed today when his Christen Eagle II crashed into the Vistula river in Poland during an aerobatic display.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/8585019/Air-show-stunt-ends-i

[vanHorck]

Video: Air show stunt ends in tragedy in Poland - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/8585019/Air-show-stunt-ends-in-tragedy-in-Poland.html)

The first loop seemed already a bit tight...

[HappyPass]

From The Telegraph (my italics):
The television news station TVN24 broadcast images of the small plane doing aerobatics when it began spewing out plumes of dark smoke and then plunged into the water.

An engine failure without doubt then... :ugh:

[akerosid]

Another thread reports that he was a LOT 767 captain.

[HappyPass]

a LOT 767 captain.
Quite experienced too: 20'000 hours
Disaster at Plock Air Show leaves pilot dead - National (http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/46563,Disaster-at-Plock-Air-Show-leaves-pilot-dead)

and a succesful glider pilot too according to wiki
World Gliding Championships - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Gliding_Championships)
Vice champion in the individual event and champion in the team one.

[iskyfly]

From The Telegraph (my italics):

Quote: The television news station TVN24 broadcast images of the small plane doing aerobatics when it began spewing out plumes of dark smoke and then plunged into the water.
The television news station TVN24 broadcast images of the small plane doing aerobatics when it began spewing out plumes of dark smoke and then plunged into the water.
An engine failure without doubt then... :ugh:


except that the video posted shows no such thing....

[piotro]

Mr Marek Szufa was in love with aviation.
Extremely experienced airliner pilot.
Aerobatic pilot, glider pilot, was building plane replicas and flying models.
Very respectable person..
He owns a number of planes i.e.: (crashed) Christen Eagle, Curtiss Jenny, Yak-18, Spitfire MK. VB, Extra 300
His website has some nice pic and video:
Szufa Airshow (http://www.marekszufa.com)

[Neptunus Rex]

vanHorck

The first loop seemed already a bit tight...Too right. He then destroyed energy with his flck manoeuvre in the vertical. No chance to recover from a subsequent loop without restoring some grunt.

Very sad.

[Algol]

Whats that flash at 18 secs?

[HappyPass]

except that the video posted shows no such thing....Oh, it does indeed... only, it's the airshow smoke! :}
Poor journo got confused... :hmm:

Adit: Algol, I saw the video on youtube and there are in fact two distinct flashes, only wingtip strobes, methinks...

[vanHorck]

For the life of me, I cannot understand why one would want to do a loop which ends just metres (if not feet) above the water, let alone do that prior to his flick.

It just goes to show how even responsible people (airline pilot) can get over zealous.

Sad for his beloved, bad for our community

:ugh:

[Barcli]

VanH ; my thoughts exactly:ugh:

[stiknruda]

I've watched the vid a few times now

it appears to start with a flicking maneover at the top of a loop (possibly the second half of an Avalanch/Porteous Loop).

He then continues the loop but does not pull too tightly on quarter 4 so that it appears to finish just above the river. Had he not relaxed the pull he would have finished the loop several metres higher at a slightly reduced airspeed.

The next bit is a bit lost behind a spectator's head but it appears to be a Loncevak off an up 45 line. The issue appears to be the last rotation of the decaying Lomcevak as he struggles to make it stop. My guess is that the last rotation was unplanned/unwanted. He then split S's off that and smites the water.

So - IMHO Lomcevaks can be unpredictable and although very exciting to watch ought not to be attempted so close to the surface. IMHO that was his big mistake.

As an aside; I believe (and I've only ever flown 5 different ones, which included the LAA aerobatic test flights for permit issue on two of them ) that the Christen Eagle II has an AEIO360A1A/B with generally a two bladed Hartzell metal prop. The current thinking amongst my IAC chums is that these should not be Lomcevaked as the heavy prop during gyroscopics can put sufficient stress on the hollow crank to fracture the crank and cause loss of propellor in-flight. Trying to land one without some 60lbs of metal at the pointy end would be errr challenging, as the CoG would march right out of the back of the envelope and possibly even off the graph!

Tragic shame for the Pole, his family and the spectators. However it does remind me a little of the TopGun line about egos, cheques, body and cash.

Stik

[Pilot DAR]

Yup, what Van Horck said....

[Barcli]

Hi Stik ,
Hadnt heard about the gyro issues with the AEIO-360 - is this thought process being applied to any AEIO-360 with the hollow (Cs) crank and two blade ( alloy) prop despite what a/c type it is fitted to, or just the CE ?

I notice his CE still carrying the "N" reg - how does this work with an FAA experimental type outside of the US ? Just curious as I wish to import an experimental which the LAA will not approve and am looking for loopholes !!!

A sad and wasted loss however :uhoh:

[stiknruda]

Hi Barcli - it's a generic thing that I picked up when in Ozark a few yrs ago. It's not official AFAIK but makes enormous sense! I don't do them in the Pitts with the same eng prop combo but have done them in a wooden bladed S1 with a solid crank.

No idea how things work in Poland.

Good luck!

Your Yellow Husky vid on YouTube is awesome!!

Stik

[Flyingcircusace]

Stik has it right..

Reverse half cuban with Tumble on up 45 is a bad figure to use near the ground, as you can not always guarantee you height at the end of the gyro. As you can see from the vid he came out off heading and he had to roll to align with his A axis, which unfortunately cost him precious height, and room to recover.

Gyro's need to executed after a long upline away from the ground, ie Fig 1!

Reverse Half Cubans need the first 45 deg line to be flown accurately otherwise you will be low on your gate at the top every-time..

Get trained fly safe

FC

[SFCC]

Not nice for the fellow in the driving seat, but a racing certainty that it was decaying energy that caused the splash.

Where the hell did losing the prop come into it?

I've done exactly the same many many times in two Eagles (Barcli's old one being one of them) and never heard of that.

Internet rumour mill works yet again.

The finest aerobatic display I've ever seen was in an Eagle, In the UK, and by possibly the most talented pilot I've ever met. It included plenty of autorotational figures.

The prop stayed on.

And before you say it, I know it was an 'aside'. The prop didn't come off....so there:O