Crash at Parafield
 

An aircraft has crashed possibly into the RM Williams shop (Frost Rd) at Parafield Airport after a slow pass with wheels and flaps down. Reported as a near vertical nose down attitude on descent after a stall.

Details are sketchy and will post more information as it comes to hand. Either way it does not sound good for those in he aircraft or on the ground.

FWIW the bi-annual Classic Jets Display is on at Parafield today.

ABC radio news claimed the AC was a replica Spitfire.

I filmed two replica Spits at the show last year and it was so windy they had to have wing walkers to steady them to the threshold.

This year I decided to to go to the National VJMC Rally at Victor Harbor instead.

RIP

Spitfire indeed.

Pilot killed in Spitfire plane crash at Salisbury in Adelaide's northern suburbs | adelaidenow

Spitfire crash at Parafield
 

VH-VSF, Mk26 replica Spitfire crashed killing the pilot today at the classic fighters airshow at Parafield. The Media like normal have a small fact wrong at the moment. Apparently it was doing a "dirty" pass before stalling and crashing nose first. Info from people who are there at the moment.

Pilot killed in Spitfire plane crash at Salisbury in Adelaide's northern suburbs | adelaidenow

I landed on 21R just minutes after the accident. The conditions were extremely gusty and it was difficult to maintain a decent profile or speed.

My understanding is the cause was a stall/spin turning onto final.

Sad indeed.

Adelaide Now website is reporting "...Police said the plane, a replica of the Mark 26 Spitfire, crashed into a fence on Frost Rd, Salisbury, just before 2pm..."

Is indeed a replica.

Its always a bugger when someone spears in irrespective of what aircraft he was flying.

RIP.

Its not known whether local conditions alone were a factor or he lost the engine and spun
in with the winds being a contributory factor. Speculation is just that till the final report's
issued.

reports from the airfield have stated that during his dirty pass he turned with a good tail wind thus most likely inducing a stall.

That's bad news. Is it a full size replica as I've seen an 80% sized one out at Camden.

I am a resident on site inside parafield airport, and was sitting on my balcony watching the spitfire doing its dirty slow pass, it was extremely slow but I have not took too much notice about it, in fact I took a picture in of that spitfire just before it came back for the slow pass..walked back into my house to grab something when it was doing its approach and heard the noise from the crowd, at first I thought it was a cheer or something but now apparently it wasnt as I thought.

The condition today, in fact for the pass few days has been quite windy, and I am quite used to a gusty base and final approach due to nearby terrain. It looks like the pilot had under estimated the gusty condition. Anyway RIP.

And the ATSB won't investigate.

Replica Spitfire crash - Adelaide
 

Wasn't sure where to post this, so Mods please move to somewhere more appropriate

70 year old pilot killed when he crashed his 7-year old replica Spitfire Mk XXVI into a suburban street

Pilot killed in replica Spitfire plane crash at Salisbury in Adelaide's northern suburbs | adelaidenow

I just happened to look up about 5 seconds before this disaster and saw the spitfire in a bit of a flat spin. He had a fair nose down attitude by the end of it and might have recovered from at least the yawing but he was going down fast and it would have been an absolute miracle for him to get back up. Poor bloke. It was a horrible thing to witness and I think that memory will stick with me forever. So sad for his family.

Don't count on it Sunfish.

The ATSB were in Melbourne on Thursday investigating an experimental homebuilt that lost its prop (not fatal).

Sciolists begone... We will have an ATSB report to ponder...

Police say relatives of the pilot have been advised.
They are appealing for anyone who witnessed the crash to contact them.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will conduct an investigation into the crash and police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

Read more: Pilot killed in crash at SA air show | News.com.au

Is now a good time to mention the Jabiru that crashed / flipped on Fraser Island Qld today?

according to SMH, ATSB will be investigating? and a tail wind while turning caused it? really. :rolleyes:

according to Channel 9 news at six there was a "serious cross wind in the air at the time"... Yep, gotta watch out for those.

As uneducated as that comment may be and likely not relevant, it does have technical merit for an aircraft attempting to land and one of the reasons why the turn-back should be avoided due to the ever-so tightening turn onto final that one must make with the wind up your clacker.

From the SA Police website...

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the crash to contact the Police Assistance Line on 131 444.

The Air Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) will conduct an investigation into the crash and police will prepare a report for the Coroner.


- See more at: Spitfire plane crash at Salisbury - Update - South Australia Police News





.

Reliable friend tells me a reliable eye witness (whom I know well too) told him it definitely spun, looks like he had recovered but ran out of altitude...

Now the cause of the spin - lets hope ATSB finds enough eye witnesses and other evidence to figure that one out.

Surprised you didn't pick up on the plane that suffered an efato last week XXX. Think it was at tyabb.

On an un-related note those engines are impressive. Came out in the Holden Rodeo, a 3.5 litre petrol quad cam alloy V6. 260? HP from memory. I had a Rodeo 4x2 powered by one and it went like a rocket. I understand that a chap in Melbourne bought quite a number of them and modified them to become dual ignition and sold them to the UK where dual ignition is / was mandatory - sold like hotcakes. I believe the Supermarine factory now arranges the engines and does a nice looking gearbox too. I saw one running in the hangar of a mate building his and you could literally balance a coin on it's end on the top of the block whilst it was running (no joke).

Surely you'd be referring to the one that lost its' prop half way between Tyabb and French island that I referred to earlier in this thread?

That could be the one. Reports from people in the air at the time said it was an efato since he landed in swamp not far from the airport. Could be wrong though!

Video of VSF at Barossa in 2009

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IBfvU5BgoM

Yeah that's the one. Started vibrating in the cruise, turned back and prop fell off. Can't mention much more on this one right now.

What is that saying about villages and idiots?

It didn't actually crash so it was a non-event really. Sorry for the thread-drift.

XXX

I used to routinely balance a 50 cent piece on Mazda / Eunos V6 intake manifolds as a means to show a customer how well balanced the engine was.

When you revved the engine harmonic vibrations would spin the coin on it's edge.

The photos and video can be misleading, however it appears the right wing has separated prior to impact with the ground.

Pilot killed in replica Spitfire plane crash at Salisbury in Adelaide's northern suburbs | News.com.au

Pilot killed at air show crash - Yahoo!7 News

Rob, both wings are at the crash scene, but the right one is obscured in some photos.

I would bet they were both firmly attached prior to impact based on the image I saw with both there. I think it's fairly easy to see what happened when you see the whole thing.

Sad day for all at Parafield and in SA generally in the GA scene.

Nope, most (well almost all) aren't replicas. Here is a picture of (from link proivded in previous post) of the aircraft:

http://resources1.news.com.au/images...ger-stokes.jpg

And here is a Google image of a Spit:

http://ww2today.com/wp-content/uploa...fire-Malta.jpg

Replica Spitfire crash in South Australia - fatal
 

Australian pilot Mr Roger Stokes, 73, was killed yesterday when his home-built scaled replica Spitfire VH-VSF nosedived into vacant land at an air show at Parafield Aerodrome, South Australia.

Witnesses said that the aircraft had completed a barrel roll when a wing appeared to come off.

Really? :ugh:

Media reports of witnesses :rolleyes::ugh:

both wings are with the fuselage. Watch the 7 news video footage. Clear as day. Right wing is in front of the tree.

If you cant work this out from the location of the engine and firewall forward, the location of the wings, well planky is not at risk of losing his well earned title is he.

It appears from the video that all the components are in an area the size of the original plane.

Wings falling off just gets the media in a spin....so to speak. Most witnesses would not know a stall/spin from a roll of any kind.

I think I read that the witness telling that story was a 12 year old.

I have heard from several sources a right turn of 60'ish degrees with flaps and wheels extended heading onto final and a flip to the left as it stalled.

Probably in behind the drag curve in the turn, low altitude gives no options for escape.