Originally Posted by tartare
A question - having never been to Reno, I am attempting to understand the layout of the racecourse, relative to the crowd.
Yes, the terrain is one feature determining the present layout of the unlimited course. The existence of some housing does as well. The "dead line" or no transgression zone is aligned roughly parallel to the East/West runway as are the grandstands. The airplanes ground track is normally oriented parallel with or slightly away from the crowd by the time they are in front of the pits, west of the grandstands. In this case it appears that the detachment of the trim tab and subsequent pitch up occurred just as the airplane was completing the last turn and continued across the dead line in a climb, then rolled into a dive, impacting the VIP box area on the ramp. (apron in ICAO-speak)
It would be nice if aterpster or another of our map gurus would come along and post a relief map with the course layout superimposed. I'll check out MAPS and see if a decent view is possible there.
tartare, I suspect your suggestion of reviewing the layout will be one of the things race officials, the NTSB, FAA and other concerned parties will be looking at too.
westhawk