Reno air race crash, big deal in northern NV

[gunsmith]

its all over drudge and cable news by now so no need for me to link.
I know a gal that was there, she's pretty shaken.
The pilot was 80yrs old but I'm sure they wouldn't let him race if they were aware of any medical conditions that might prevent him from safe operation.
Witnesses said he tried not to hit the crowd - as of now 12 confirmed dead but the first news report indicated over 50 dead-we'll see.

Prayers and condolences.

[Gowen]

I was wondering why I hadn't heard any planes later in the day.

[geronimotwo]

http://news.yahoo.com/3-dead-more-50-hurt-nev-air-race-085035102.html

tragic,  the pilots family was at the event.  i don't think there is enough left of the plane to tell what went wrong.  one source believes the tail lost a trim tab, but i think the pilot could have corrected for that.  maybe not at those speeds?

[KD5NRH]

i don't think there is enough left of the plane to tell what went wrong.  one source believes the tail lost a trim tab, but i think the pilot could have corrected for that.  maybe not at those speeds?

That would depend on when it happened; things that are really easy to deal with in level flight are a lot tougher when at a 90 degree bank in a high-speed turn with less than three seconds' worth of room for error.

[Tallpine]

That would depend on when it happened; things that are really easy to deal with in level flight are a lot tougher when at a 90 degree bank in a high-speed turn with less than three seconds' worth of room for error.

Yeah, if a lost trim tab caused the plane to pitch up and stall, there's not much a pilot can do at <100' alitude.

Sad 

[280plus]

I listened to one "journalist" talking to a witness pull the fact that he was spattered with blood and tissue out of him. Asked him about it a second time after he didn't answer the first time. "You were slapttered with blood weren't you?" 

Vultures... 

[bedlamite]

 

[zahc]

does anyone know anything about the plane's cooling system? I heard it had some kind of special evaporative cooling system, but haven't been able to find details.

[bedlamite]

Only the first generation used evap cooling. The Merlin B through G used a conventional ethylene glycol system.

[Northwoods]

The surprising things to me about the crash were that there was no fire, and the degree of disintegration of the plane.  There was little more than aluminum confetti left.

Reports said 7 died at the scene (including the pilot) and 2 died at hospital.  Some 15 or so are still in critical condition.  Overall 69 injured and dead.

[birdman]

Only the first generation used evap cooling. The Merlin B through G used a conventional ethylene glycol system.

Interestingly enough, the later generations actually got net positive thrust from the "radiator" due to it's low drag design for intake and exhaust.

[Jamisjockey]

The surprising things to me about the crash were that there was no fire, and the degree of disintegration of the plane.  There was little more than aluminum confetti left.

Reports said 7 died at the scene (including the pilot) and 2 died at hospital.  Some 15 or so are still in critical condition.  Overall 69 injured and dead.

I've seen a number of crashes in my life, and only about half resulted in fireballs.  The most spectacular of those was an AV8B with aux fuel immediately after takeoff.   

[Hawkmoon]

I listened to one "journalist" talking to a witness pull the fact that he was spattered with blood and tissue out of him. Asked him about it a second time after he didn't answer the first time. "You were slapttered with blood weren't you?" 

Vultures... 

Remember the mantra of the news desk: "If it bleeds, it leads."

[Fly320s]

The surprising things to me about the crash were that there was no fire, and the degree of disintegration of the plane.  There was little more than aluminum confetti left.

Reports said 7 died at the scene (including the pilot) and 2 died at hospital.  Some 15 or so are still in critical condition.  Overall 69 injured and dead.

The plane was moving too fast to leave much more than confetti. It happened during the race, so that P51 was probably pushing 400 knots when it crashed.

[Northwoods]

Oh, I know how fast it was going.  And pile driving into tarmac at such speeds is rather violent.  Still, I'd have thought that a few pieces, like parts of the tail, maybe one wing, the engine, etc would at least have been kinda, sorta recognizable (if you used a bit of imagination). 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Questions were raised, too, about modifications to the plane made to make the plane more aerodynamic so it would go faster without a bigger engine. In a podcast uploaded to YouTube in June, Leeward said major changes were made to the plane before this year's race. He said his crew cut five feet off each wing and shortened the ailerons — the back edge of the main wings used to control balance — to 32 inches, down from about 60 inches.

"I know the speed. I know it'll do the speed. The systems aren't proven yet. We think they're going to be OK," Leeward said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/18/ap/business/main20107841.shtml?tag=pop;stories

[geronimotwo]

only 5 ft per wing?  i guess they wanted to keep the stall speed below 300 knots.  i wonder if they rebuilt the wings with a lighter guage aluminum?  considering the abuse these were designed to take, i too am surprised at the way it disintegrated.

[Tallpine]

The plane was moving too fast to leave much more than confetti. It happened during the race, so that P51 was probably pushing 400 knots when it crashed.

IIRC, Yeager stated that he broke the sound barrier first in a dive in a P-51.

[birdman]

IIRC, Yeager stated that he broke the sound barrier first in a dive in a P-51.

I highly doubt it (the speed, not whether or not he said it)
The propellor on a p-51 (and all ww2 aircraft) is not designed to operate or even survive at transonic forward speeds, and even if it could survive, it wouldn't generate significant net thrust.  Since the natural terminal velocity of the aircraft is sunsonic, without the forward net thrust the aircraft would not be able to reach or exceed Mach 1 (especially given the high transonic drag of the p-51), even if the aircraft itself could survive the Mach buffet.