Oshkosh tragedy - two Mustangs collide

[G-KEST]

Sad news indeed.
Trapper 69
:confused:
___________________________________________---
From the US ANN website -
One Confirmed Lost In P-51 Accident Following OSH Air Race Performance
Fri, 27 Jul '07
ANN REALTIME UPDATE 07.27.07 1850 EDT: Federal Aviation Administration personnel confirm one person was killed in a landing accident at Wittman Field, as both planes were coming in to land Friday afternoon following an air race demonstration at AirVenture 2007.
Officials have not released the identities of the pilots involved.
1835 EDT -- ANN has confirmed two P-51s returning to land from a simulated air race performance at Oshkosh AirVenture 2007 are down near the end of runway 36 at Wittman Field.
Footage of the accident obtained by ANN shows both aircraft coming in for landing on 36 at approximately 1500 CDT, with the lead aircraft rolling on the runway and a second on station to the left rear, approximately 20 feet off the ground. It appears the right wing of the aircraft still in the air clipped the left rear horizontal stablizer of the first as it came alongside.
The aircraft already on the ground came to rest on its nose approximately 50 yards down the runway; the aircraft above rolled over, and impacted the ground inverted.
Identities and conditions of the pilots involved have not been confirmed. Officials with EAA postponed the day's airshow performances until 1700 CDT.
ANN will update the story as more information becomes available.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=e0b8b45d-175d-47fe-a063-7ad4367b4d28&

[con-pilot]

Sad indeed, this is shaping up to be a bad year for Oshkosh. And what, this is now four P-51s in the last few days to have crashed? :(

Also at least 4 fatal accidents with aircraft just trying to get to Oshkosh.

[TabulaRasa]

I was there when it happened. It is really tragic as the pilots were a father-son team.

:{

It's the P-51 with the green wings. This was taken minutes before.

http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/Fatal_formationSM.jpg


P-51 crash at AirVenture leaves one dead


Click here for video: One dead in Warbirds crash on runway (http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070727/VIDEO0601/307270029)
By Bethany K. Warner
of The Northwestern

The pilot of a P-51 Mustang died Friday in a fiery crash with another P-51 as the airplanes were landing on the north-south runway at Wittman Regional Airport.

The two warbirds were flying at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture as part of the Reno Racers in the Showcase flights, which is about an hour-long performance before the main air show starts. The crash occurred as the airplanes were landing in formation about 3:15 p.m.

The EAA confirmed that one pilot was killed and the other had unspecified injuries. Authorities have not released the identities of either pilot.

Chuck Chall, of Brighton, Mich., saw the crash, and said in formation landings, the second plane should land first, but that in this case, the lead plane had already landed.

"I could see it developing," Chall said. "I could see it happening before it started."

According to Howell Herman, of Mt. Morris, Ill., who also witnessed the crash, the second P-51 was coming in faster than the lead airplane. He said at first, it looked like the second plane would overshoot the first.

"I was shocked," Herman said. "It's a tragedy. No one expects an accident. These guys are pros."

Other witnesses said the trailing plane landed, but its propeller clipped the tail of the lead plane, pushing it on to its nose. Witnesses said the second plane may have tried to swerve, but ended up flipping over the lead plane to finally land upside in the grass to the east of the runway. After flipping upside down, witnesses said, the plane burst into flames.


Witnesses said the pilot of the plane that ended up on its nose was able to walk away from his plane and first ran toward the burning plane before turning back and then falling to his knees.


"There was definitely a big fireball," said Walt Meziere of Texas, who saw the crash.

Meziere explained that P-51s have limited forward visibility when landing.


"I guess he didn't see he was too close," Meziere said.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Ted Lowpatkiewicz said NTSB investigators are on scene and are expected to be able to provide additional information about the crash Saturday afternoon.


EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski said P-51s take considerable training to fly because they are big, powerful and fast.

P-51s were military aircraft that often served as bomber escorts during World War II.


The daily air show was delayed for slightly more than an hour and when it resumed, pilots put on an abbreviated program. The hour-long Warbirds show that was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. was cancelled.


This is the first crash that happened during the Showcase flights or airshow in the last 15 years, Knapinski.

Barry Morris of Georgia, said he realized that he had likely witnessed a fatal accident when they saw emergency responders begin to cover the flipped-over airplane with a tarp.

"That's what upset us the most. You can replace metal; you can't replace the man," Morris said.


Bethany K. Warner: (920) 426-6668 or [email protected] ([email protected]). Krista B. Ledbetter contributed to this report

[robbreid]

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=151RJ FAA registry Blue P-51D N151RJ
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51registry/p51-4474404.html photo and history of N151RJ

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=8082U FAA registry Green/silver P-51A homebuilt N8082U
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1146844/L/ photo of N8082U

Note; owner/builder of N8082U fatally injured in crash, also restored N151RJ in 1989-1990.

[treadigraph]

The two pilots were not related, but I think the surviving pilot's father is flying the red F2G Corsair in the picture. Very sad event indeed.

Con-Pilot, four P-51 accidents? The two at Oshkosh and the one at Camarillo, has there been another?

[con-pilot]

WARNING! video of the actual accident. I believe that the commentator on the video has some good points regrading the releasing of the footage. The site is not a news media site, rather an aviation website.

http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm?videoid=00b0d640-e714-4b79-b17b-6f3b0f149c4d



Con-Pilot, four P-51 accidents? The two at Oshkosh and the one at Camarillo, has there been another?

I sure think there was. It was a minor accident with no injuries. I'll try and find it again. Oh, never mind, a guy ran off a narrow runway and the P-51 nosed over and then settled back down on the gear. I'll try and find the video, a really stupid woman was commentating on the video. I happen last week I believe.

[treadigraph]

I know the one you mean C-P, I think it was actually a year or two back. Agree with you about the yakking woman! The pilot bounced the landing, stuffed the nose down to get it back on the runway with a probable propstrike, before losing lost directional control and nosing over as you describe.

[con-pilot]

You are probably correct, I really didn't know the time of the accident I just saw the vido last week, however, the video has been pulled from "You Tube" due to user violation, what ever that means.

[Dan Winterland]

I used to fly taildraggers professionally, we used to land in formation but stopped after a while - the risks were just too great. As the EAA spokesman said in their video, "Be very careful".

[PaperTiger]

This is the first crash that happened during the Showcase flights or airshow in the last 15 years, Knapinski said.Laird Doctor. F4U. 1999.

[hard_yakka]

This is the first crash that happened during the Showcase flights or airshow in the last 15 years, Knapinski said.

Laird Doctor. F4U. 1999.I don't want to put words in Mr. Knapinski's mouth but I am assuming he meant "fatal" crash.

I was at Oshkosh in 1999 and saw Laird Doctor's crash. I was also there in 1995 when a DC-3 veered off the runway and ended up in a ditch (no serious injuries). In '95 there was also a text-book wheels up landing by a T-28 (due to a mechanical fault). I don't think anyone could truthfully say that the Oshkosh Showcase has been "accident-free", but I think that fatalities involving the showplanes are (mercifully) very rare.

[Runaway Gun]

As mentioned in the report:
"The demonstration air race was completed and the five aircraft were in the process of landing separately, and not in formation, on runway 36. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident."

This was NOT a formation landing. It appears that the second aircraft was simply blind to the first, and collided with it on touchdown. :(

[TabulaRasa]

As I recall, during the race, the F4G was well in the lead following behind the F7F. The two P-51s and the Sea Fury were bunched up closely together well behind the F4G. The F7F landed first, next the F4G, then the Sea Fury, and finally the two P-51s.




TabulaRasa,

Please crop/re-size your pictures to 800x600 pixels maximum.

Thanks,
The mods

Yes sir!

This was taken very early in the race. The lead plane is the twin engine F7F. It is acting as the pace plane. None of the other planes can pass or dive lower than the F7F.

http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/Race_Early.jpg

Gives you an idea how closely they were flying. As I said above, the last three planes were bunched together very closely at the end. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of that.
http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/Early_race_2.jpg


http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/crash1sm.jpg

The prop
http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/crash3sm.jpg

Engine
http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/crash4sm.jpg

http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/crash2sm.jpg

Taxiing, the P51 is headed south, taking off northbound. Note F-15 and F-22 in backround.
http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/P51_D_taxi_F15_F22.jpg

http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/P51_D.jpg

Seconds after takeoff
http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/takeoff.jpg

Zoomed in
http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/takeoff_zoom.jpg

[Brian Abraham]

According to the Oshkosh notam there are two runways for landing 36. 36L is the regular runway and 36R is the taxiway. The NTSB report says it was not a formation landing so I'm guessing (sticking the neck out) that one has aimed for the wrong runway.

[TabulaRasa]

I'm not a fully fledged pilot (yet) so forgive me, but here is the runway as seen from the south end (looking north) while in the pattern, seconds from turning for the final approach. The crash occured near the southern edge of the runway.

This picture was taken on the same day of the tragedy a few hours before, you can see the weather conditions while not the greatest for an airshow, were not in my opinion a factor in the collision. It was not raining.

http://www.anyboard.net/gov/mil/anyboard/uploads/Oshkosh_south_in_pattern.jpg

[paulc]

TabulaRasa,

the pic you show of a 'mustang' taxying for take off is not the P51 'Stang' that was involved in the incident - it is a titan mustang. I was on one of the viewing platforms at the end of the homebuilt area.

I was also at the show and saw the results of the crash - there was considerable damage to 'Stang' with a gash in the fuselage behind the cockpit (poss hit by prop) and the port elevator + part of tail is missing.

A very sad day.

[Flying Lawyer]

E-mail and pictures sent to me.
The yellow nose P-51 was already down, and rolling out on the mains when
struck from behind by the green P-51A. The green P-51 was still air born
at the time of collision. I couldn't tell if the green P-51 got caught
up in the wreckage and that is what flipped him, or if he attempted a
go-around at the first sense of impact, and ended up doing a torque
roll.
A split second after the third picture, the green P-51 impacted and fireballed.
The pilot did not survive.
The yellow P-51 slid to a stop on his nose, the pilot was able to get out without assistance.
I saw them approaching to land, and it looked too close for a formation
landing.
I had the camera ready to capture the go-around, but instead got a 30 frame sequence (5 frames per second).
Very surreal to watch, very sad.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/MustangSlide2.gif


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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/MustangSlide16.gif


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/MustangSlide17.gif



Very sad indeed.


FL