Abingdon airshow incident
 

Video here if you wish to see it.

Caption says pilot reported to have had concussion, certainly quite an impact and an amazingly robust airframe.

Trust he is safely back home with nothing worse than a bit of bruising.

Umm, as you say, quite an impact. The engine appears to have stopped throughout the clip and he did well to get the wings level albeit not enough height to significantly reduce the RoD.

Indeed. Suggestion elsewhere that the engine stopped on the way up in a Cuban Eight.

Witnessed the incident - odd because I wasn't really paying that close attention but was suddenly prompted to look by the reactions of several around me. Clearly they either noticed something was amiss or heard something on ATC (I did hear later that pilot reportedly made a call indicating he had a problem). Combination of luck, airmanship and one tough airframe saved the day, although it must have been momentarily alarming for those on the crowdline adjacent to where it happened (the plane came to rest approx half-way between the runway and crowdline, travelling towards the crowd).

Also odd the other pilot completed his 'half' of the display before landing (and promptly departed immediately emergency cover was restored).

Why is it "odd" to continue the display? It's what you were there for, what does stopping it achieve? There's nothing you can do to assist your oppo after all.

Why too is it odd to depart whan so cleared? Why would you even want to stay there if the wreck is secure? "here" may not be a suitable or convenient place to leave it. There is every reason to get the other airframe home and maybe even more so in the event of an accident - being on site is hardly necessary.

Hard to see from the photos - can anyone tell me what type it was?

PDR

Type is a Silence SA1100 Twister.

Have seen the duo do many displays and they are very good. I too think it was odd that the other aircraft continued with its display.

Wishing the pilot a speedy recovery.

Silence Twister - one half of the Twister Duo team.

Thanks!

PDR

Three photos, six seconds from first to last
 

From the first photo, downwind with the fan stopped, to the second on a steep-turn base took five seconds, and the forced landing was one second later.

Attachment 2261

Attachment 2262

Attachment 2263

I can't think of many display teams that would routinely continue a display when one of the aircraft has clearly crashed - certainly not military teams anyway. Perhaps there is nothing you can do, but to continue a display is your mind still fully on the display? Are there now many more people attending to the crashed aircraft that are inside the (say) 230m sterilised area? Is there adequate crash cover if you also have the misfortune to spear in? Did his engine stop because of the fuel you've both used? ....

I doubt there was any specific desire from the FDD for the display to continue, although of course he does have the ability to call a 'stop'. Gone are the days of Neville Duke displaying his Hunter at Farnborough as soon as they've swept the remains of the Derry/Richards DH110 off the runway!

That was only possible because those remains were not lying on the runway but in the middle of the spectators were they would not disturb the flying operations...

But sarcasm apart. If your display partner/friend/flying buddy just crashed and you have no idea if he's alive or dead or badly hurt, how can you continue your display? I witnessed enough road accidents after which I needed a short pause before I could go on driving and those were all people I did not know.

Surely protocol would dictate that the display should cease, seeing as there was no emergency cover, it being tied up on scene? Perhaps a display pilot could confirm...

Re the departure, assume he'd been adequately de-briefed and checked to see he was in a fit state to fly? Must have been quite a shock for him too. Again, anyone better qualified?

In fairness, he travelled towards the crowd mainly after hitting port wing first after bouncing; the actual original touchdown was much nearer parallel with the runway/crowdline, and with a fairly strong crosswind towards the crowd. The whole incident from engine failure to hitting the deck was a matter of few seconds, he could go straight ahead beyond the airfield with a following wind, or turn left or right to crash on the airfield. He was over or very near the runway centreline when the engine failed and with such wide separation between the runway and the crowd, there was just room to force-land. He finished about 50-60m from where I was standing and I didn't feel very threatened, as he hit the deck further away, quickly losing momentum.

https://youtu.be/MFGM8cIzmjA


Looking at the video linked above, all appears to be going okay until the aircraft falls out of a stall turn left with a bit of a tailslide (at about 4:20). S&L flight is regained now flying downwind (ie left to right) but the engine does sound abnormal. The engine then stops and, after a pause, the right wing drops aggressively and the nose lowers as a turn into wind is attempted. It could almost gave gone incipient before recovering just prior to impact with the wings almost level but the nose still low.

According to an update elsewhere on social media;-

"The pilot of the ill-fated Twister G-JINX suffered two broken vertebrae and sternum and had an op today to pin the vertebrae and is expected to make a full recovery."

Get well soon Chris.

Pilots who fly low level aerobatics know that they are placing themselves at risk. It is very poorly trained in general, but their is a "height/velocity curve" for a fixed wing airplane, every bit as much as there is for a helicopter. Flying within that band of altitude, and airspeed means that a successful power off landing will not be possible. A lot of flying is done in airplanes which is allowed to be engine power dependent, when done differently, or at a higher altitude would be much more recoverable in the case of power loss. I was the unfortunate witness to a very similar, though more severe low level aerobatic accident at Oshkosh, where the aircraft SF260 impacted the ground the same way right in front of me. It was a fatal accident.

In both cases, an informed pilot made an operational choice, I hope this pilot recovers well. I hope other pilots include this painfully learned wisdom in the planning of their flights.

What is very poorly trained - high velocity curves?

Are you an expert in this field who is qualified to judge the quality of training?

What is very poorly trained - high velocity curves?

The height/velocity curve for every helicopter is define in the flight manual, and trained as a part of type training for that type of helicopter. Can anyone show a defined height/velocity curve for an airplane? Can anyone show training which done per airplane type to demonstrate the combination of height and airspeed from which a glide will not be successful to the surface? I can, I do this training with pilots I train. They will not get an insurance signoff from me until I believe that they have this awareness.

Obvioulsy, there are times when airplanes, like helicopters will operate within this curve, and a power off landing not be possible. It is obviously wise to minimize this exposure. Doing this requires an awareness of the factors, and understanding of the limitations of that type (the dimensions of the curve). Is that formally trained as a part of type training in airplanes?