Airshow crash in USA
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From: Simply Towers.
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From: flying by night
Hope to hear all is well. I immediately came to think that most civilian L-39 have cold ejection seats due to added complexity/cost of maintenance, no idea about this one though.
Aircraft involved must be NX139RT. L-39 in the US requires an AEA (similar to type rating) requiring minimum 1000h pic. Pilot has 10 years display experience, holds an atpl, and also pilots his company business jet, as well as a number of other aircraft.
Edit: The plane went down in a heavily wooded area that was difficult for emergency crews to access, authorities told CBS News
Aircraft involved must be NX139RT. L-39 in the US requires an AEA (similar to type rating) requiring minimum 1000h pic. Pilot has 10 years display experience, holds an atpl, and also pilots his company business jet, as well as a number of other aircraft.
Edit: The plane went down in a heavily wooded area that was difficult for emergency crews to access, authorities told CBS News
Last edited by deptrai; 12th September 2015 at 23:35.
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From: Canada
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From: flying by night
Indeed sad to hear, heartfelt condolences to his family. A lot has been posted here about air shows recently, due to the random spike in accidents (no, I haven't crunched the numbers, but I assume it's a random fluke). On one hand, careful planning and aerobatic/display boxes usually protect innocent bystanders and spectators these days. On the other hand, I can't help thinking, what was that L-39 doing just above the ground ("Witnesses say they saw his plane take a dive to do a trick (sic) and never came back up", according to CBS. Despite the odd language, the scenario sounds familiar, unfortunately). It's an aircraft that excels at altitude, it's performance is much better there. If this was loss of control (I have no idea), there is 0 margin for recovery or manual egress just above the ground. Further, it's a military trainer, checklists call for finding a non-inhabited area for a crash, and eject. Not a good scenario but it has saved thousands of lives. I can't help thinking about some posts about Swiss hunters that don't fly concurrently because they share ejection seats. Sounds like a prudent approach to me. Air shows remain a high risk activity, I hope something can be learned from this accident too.

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From: Canada
Air shows remain a high risk activity,
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From: Home
Nobody goes to a circus where the performers don't do something spectacular.
If it isn't exciting, then nobody goes.

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From: Canada
Yes, but then it isn't a show.
Nobody goes to a circus where the performers don't do something spectacular.
If it isn't exciting, then nobody goes.
Nobody goes to a circus where the performers don't do something spectacular.
If it isn't exciting, then nobody goes.
Yesterday, while flying home from a weekend gathering, I stopped at a fly in. Zero aerobatics of dramatics. As I passed mid downwind, a B-25 Mitchell bomber crossed mid field, and went wide around me. As I crossed the fence, he called a low flypast, and went off my wingtip. I had parked in time to watch a fine landing, no excitement.
He, as well as a Cornell, and Tiger Moth were hopping rides, and everyone seemed very pleased. I did not witness any pitch or roll exceeding 30 degrees.
Airplanes were shown, and hundreds of people enjoyed....

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From: Aus
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megan
Yes, that's what people, including me, want to see. Skip at his best.
Step turn
"Hundreds" of people don't pay enough money to keep things flying.
Hundreds of thousands of paying spectators are required to keep most of the interesting toys flying.
Yes a few old codgers might have their hearts warmed by the fly-in you describe, but the simple fact is that you have to compete with YouTube. The standard of "Wow" is very very high nowadays.
The US shows are in a different league.
Yes, that's what people, including me, want to see. Skip at his best.
Step turn
"Hundreds" of people don't pay enough money to keep things flying.
Hundreds of thousands of paying spectators are required to keep most of the interesting toys flying.
Yes a few old codgers might have their hearts warmed by the fly-in you describe, but the simple fact is that you have to compete with YouTube. The standard of "Wow" is very very high nowadays.
The US shows are in a different league.
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From: Home
Whilst the UK is getting all excited about safety, the rest of the world is moving on.
Extreme sports are popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz5AcbaJzLo
Look at the crowds for this kind of thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFsfMY7IPc
Or the Red Bull Air Race.

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From: Not far from a big Lake
Look at the crowds for this kind of thing.
Not the kind of stuff that airshows are made out of.
If you try to provide that kind of "excitement" in a routine environment, something unpredictable will stop you.
A spectator throwing an object from a bridge.
A pedestrian leaking through a safety barrier and taking a short cut at the wrong time.
An untimely failure of some element of your aircraft at the most inopportune time.
A thermal that disturbs your flight path more than you anticipated.
Random variation in human performance.
A truck in the wrong place at the wrong instant.
A loose object in the cockpit.
Another aircraft interfering.
The possibilities of disruptive phenomena are virtually endless.
The object of an airshow performance should be to survive the experience,
every blooming time.
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From: flying by night
The object of an airshow performance should be to survive the experience,
every blooming time.
Yes! And somebody will probably prove me wrong but I can't remember the red arrows, blue angels, frecce tricolori, etc etc ever flying under city bridges with lots of spectators right next. These "red bull" performances give me a headache.
Call me old fashioned, but I think this is a beautiful display, "simple" formation flying:
and thanks to youtube and modern technology, people can watch it as if they were there...but I realize beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Leave the ground hugging to those who need to do it for other reasons than entertainment.
every blooming time.
Yes! And somebody will probably prove me wrong but I can't remember the red arrows, blue angels, frecce tricolori, etc etc ever flying under city bridges with lots of spectators right next. These "red bull" performances give me a headache.
Call me old fashioned, but I think this is a beautiful display, "simple" formation flying:
and thanks to youtube and modern technology, people can watch it as if they were there...but I realize beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Leave the ground hugging to those who need to do it for other reasons than entertainment.
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From: last time I looked I was still here.
Apologising for topic drift, but.... I lost the A320 at the top of the loop. I then saw it with gear down but the muggers were gear up and I didn't see a runway in sight. What was going on. That was the most amazing 'intercept' I ever saw. I guess he should have read the swiss NOTAMS better.
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From: Texas, like a whole other country
Do not believe that was Sean Tucker although cannot for some reason get the clip to play again.
He has also done stuff like flying under a jumping motorcycle. Crazy? Probably. A crowd pleaser? Most likely.
All things considered, he's still young, started young, and seems to know what he's doing. There would also seem to be certain preparations and precautions in place to ensure the safety of the flight and onlookers.
EDIT -- This link to the clip in question appears to be working: https://www.facebook.com/teamladsban...7988550783735/
Last edited by Carbon Bootprint; 13th September 2015 at 21:39. Reason: Added working link to video
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From: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
Aircraft involved must be NX139RT.
Is this some sort of 'vanity' N-number?
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From: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
§45.22 Exhibition, antique, and other aircraft: Special rules.
(b) A small U.S.-registered aircraft built at least 30 years ago or a U.S.-registered aircraft for which an experimental certificate has been issued under §21.191(d) or 21.191(g) for operation as an exhibition aircraft or as an amateur-built aircraft and which has the same external configuration as an aircraft built at least 30 years ago may be operated without displaying marks in accordance with §§45.21 and 45.23 through 45.33 if:
(1) It displays in accordance with §45.21(c) marks at least 2 inches high on each side of the fuselage or vertical tail surface consisting of the Roman capital letter “N” followed by:
(i) The U.S. registration number of the aircraft; or
(ii) The symbol appropriate to the airworthiness certificate of the aircraft (“C”, standard; “R”, restricted; “L”, limited; or “X”, experimental) followed by the U.S. registration number of the aircraft; and
(2) It displays no other mark that begins with the letter “N” anywhere on the aircraft, unless it is the same mark that is displayed under paragraph (b)(1) of this section.
(b) A small U.S.-registered aircraft built at least 30 years ago or a U.S.-registered aircraft for which an experimental certificate has been issued under §21.191(d) or 21.191(g) for operation as an exhibition aircraft or as an amateur-built aircraft and which has the same external configuration as an aircraft built at least 30 years ago may be operated without displaying marks in accordance with §§45.21 and 45.23 through 45.33 if:
(1) It displays in accordance with §45.21(c) marks at least 2 inches high on each side of the fuselage or vertical tail surface consisting of the Roman capital letter “N” followed by:
(i) The U.S. registration number of the aircraft; or
(ii) The symbol appropriate to the airworthiness certificate of the aircraft (“C”, standard; “R”, restricted; “L”, limited; or “X”, experimental) followed by the U.S. registration number of the aircraft; and
(2) It displays no other mark that begins with the letter “N” anywhere on the aircraft, unless it is the same mark that is displayed under paragraph (b)(1) of this section.




