I was there the other day with my boy,, glad I was not there today...Very sad.I was there with my boy a few years ago when the jet class suffered a loss... We will never forget seeing that jet crash right in our face and feeling the heat from the explosion......Pretty strange when the unmentionable happens right before your eyes.Friend of my brothers from Portland was sitting about 25 feet from where the mustang went in today......Not a scratch on him....lots of people around him disintegrated is how he put it.....

Tragic. Thoughts go out to all those who were hurt or lost someone. At a loss for words

This is terrible to happen at such a great event. But as bad as this is, it could have been a lot worse if he had hit 50' farther into the crowd. God Speed to the departed and a speedy recovery for those injured.

Just heard on TV..the races have been canceled for the weekend.

I read somewhere a few years back that unlimited air racing, on a per hour flown basis, was more dangerous than combat flying for the US military. It always seemed to me that stand placement didn't really reflect the danger...

What a nightmare.

There is nothing like seeing 3 Unlimiteds in a Gold race coming around the last pylon right at you.

More info:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 12598.html

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/0 ... air-races/

Very sad. And the media is going to have a field day with this.

This was from a buddy that was there...

Went into box seating, 50 Feet from myself and family in stands. Lots of
people perished (dozen?). Very sad day at the races.


He was very lucky to have been so close and not got taken out. That video is deffinately a holy shit moment!

Shit! I'm very sorry to hear this! Not sure what else to say

What a crazy day at the air races! My thoughts go out to all those involved.

My initial thoughts now reflecting on just what I saw is an elevator problem but who really knows. Maybe a trim tab separation. By the way he came around the corner at maybe a 40 degree bank but not at the 50 degree point yet, he started to climbed and do a slow roll. The aircraft went from 50' off the deck into a climb to around 500' (guessing) while slightly rolling inverted. Once inverted he did not flatten out but instead start into an inverted nose down attitude. If you can imagine a slow split S, thats about what it looked like. An elevator problem is the only thing I can think off.

I did also notice the aircraft wagging its tail as if the pilot was trying to free the rudder controls or maybe thinking something was stuck in the rear end. Imagine pressing right and left rudder as if you were trying to free something up. The plane really waggled as it started its roll and then went true discontinuing its waggle as if the pilot new that was not going to work and needed to focus on his next plan of correction.

I would post photos but they are very graphic in nature and out of pure respect to those injured and deceased I cannot. Lets just say the medical crew had there hands full and did a remarkable job. You can imagine what the place would look like with a plane flying into a place with people at high speed.

Kevin

Condolences to Mr. Leeward's family and the families of the victims. This may be the end of air racing, I'm sorry to say. The "Beguine" crash in Cleveland in 1949 ended air racing for 15 or 20 years, and that was long before the reactionary and litigious and lawyer world we have today.

The close-up photos I've seen of the airplane just before the crash, mysteriously show that the pilot is not visible in the cockpit. The big mystery to me is how or why he would have been so far out of the seat that his head was not visible through the canopy. Also, the tailwheel is extended in the photos, which would never happen during the race. There may have been two things at work here, an otherwise "normal" racing mustang malfunction, plus a medical event triggered by the stress of the mechanical emergency.

Unbelievable that there wasn't instant vaporization of the fuel and fire with the energy of that crash. Don't want to contemplate how worse it could have been.

I noticed the tailwheel extended too. Points to some kind of mechanical failure...it wouldn't seem likely that there is a way to extend the tailwheel alone without a problem. Anybody know much about P-51 landing gear?

Here's an article with two clear pix just before the crash. Looks like a missing elevator trim tab in the inverted shot. In the vertical shot the tailwheel is deployed and there is no helmet in the canopy, possible results of a high G pull-up.

http://www.theunion.com/article/2011091 ... ofile=1053

Y'all be careful out there.

On my former employers website..

...it is reported by a friend of one of the competitors that when he was passed by the GHOST,just moments before the crash....the tail was shaking like crazy and it appeared that the elevator trim tab was coming off.

Certainly would account for the loss of control.

Bob

Two of my friends in a private box were injured but will be ok. Bruises and lacerations. People nearby not so lucky.
Hope this tragedy does'nt allow the lawyers to destroy the races.

I sure hope this doesn't end the Reno Air Races as we know it!

Anyone who has been there knows you are a split second from having a very bad day with with a out of control airplane. That is what make the Reno so cool, is having those war birds coming straight at with all the noise, vibration and speed. I'll bet if the races went on today thousands of race fans would be back in their seats. I would be.

I do not like personal injury lawyers and this probably won't help. What a bummer.

Good day

When I heard about this as it developed yesterday afternoon I got progressively sadder as the full picture emerged. After watching the news last night and this morning now I'm just getting pissed off Not that I expected much from the media but most of the "reporting"/speculation is pure garbage - CNN had some douche bag airline pilot on last night who was adamant that it was a stall. The sheeple latch onto crap like that get whipped into a frenzy about how reckless and dangerous aviation is.

I know, I know, it's just the worthless media doing what they do. Somewhere between sad and depressed about this and venting.

Unbelievable that there wasn't instant vaporization of the fuel and fire with the energy of that crash. Don't want to contemplate how worse it could have been.

I am guessing that they carry only enough fuel to complete a safe race with a small 'reserve' as a safety consideration. Only basing this on what I see as logical.

"IF" the races get to continue, it would be 'smart' (to me) to have all the spectators in the center of the race so the 'energy' in a mishap would be toward the the outside of the race path and away from the crowd. Organizers would have to have an underground tunnel for a tram to go back and forth with spectators through the tunnel under the runway during the race time.....(if that was what was necessary to 'git it done').

Just my hick-a-billy thought,
lc

Condolences and sympathy to all who have lost or injured loved ones or were injured themselves.