Some interesting pics in the media show a trim tab on the elevators missing on the mishap aircraft. Tragic.
RIP to all concerned.
There was an semi-informative blog post (NOT MY WORDS) that piqued my interest. Given that it was posted on MSNBC news site, it will probably get a lot of traffic among the non-pilots out there.
Using evidence he gleaned from the pictures available to the public, the person posting has made a provisional conclusion ...
Plane in Reno crash had 'radical' changes to compete - US news - Life - msnbc.com
(One of the points made in the article was that the aircraft had been modified (wingspan shortened) to tweak its performance for racing). The "comment" that caught my eye goes as follows.
DISCLAIMER: this is somebody's opinion, but it appears to be someone who knows a bit about flying.
This accident was caused by the failure of the left elevator trim tab. This exact same failure occurred to the P-51 Voodoo in the 1998 Reno race. That aircraft didn't roll inverted, but climbed up past 9,000 feet, where the pilot woke up.
Aircraft like the P-51 Galloping Ghost, require a great deal of nose down trim to offset the lift which tends to force the nose up at high speeds (450 mph in this case).
This trim setting places a great deal of stress on the trim tab and its hinges and mounting. If the tab should fail, the elevator will return to neutral, inducing an extremely violent pitch-up with zero warning. The associated g forces can incapacitate a pilot....
Notice that in some photos that Mr. Leeland is not visible in the photo. In other photos, he is clearly slumped against the instrument panel. If he can't see out, he can't know where the aircraft is pointed.
Leeland is obviously unconscious, due to GLOC.
Note also that the g loading was severe enough to overpower the hydraulic cylinder and extend the tail wheel. My understanding is that it requires g loading in excess of 9g to do that. So, this is strong evidence that Leeland was subjected to g forces of at least 9g, and very likely higher than that.
Any pilot, especially a 74-year old pilot, will GLOC under that loading.
He was unconscious immediately after the pitch up and the aircraft went where it did due to factors like torque, aileron and rudder trim.
I believe that the NTSB will rule this accident a result of a catastrophic mechanical failure, probably resulting from undetected fatigue of the trim tab hardware and/or mounting structure.
Your thoughts?