Well, that really sucks

[Colonel]

To better times.

[Slick Goodlin]

It really, really sucks. Thought of you when I heard the news. Condolences to the whole aerobatic community.

[BCPilotguy]

What a profound loss. Even among his peers (of which there are very few) I don't know if there's anyone else out there that operates at quite that level.

If the rumour mill is to be believed then he went out in the most pedestrian way possible for someone of that calibre. Kind of feels like when Snort Snodgrass forgot the control lock in the SM 1019

Screenshot_20250424_145629_Reddit.jpg

[Colonel]

Maybe 15 years ago, me my Dad and my son were sitting at a table in a hangar waiting for our slot time in the airshow.

Rob walks up and says, "Can I sit with the cool kids?"

I reply, "Sure, but why do you want to sit here?"

Rob laughed.

[Eric Janson]

Losing friends in plane crashes is never a nice thing to experience.

My condolences.

[TundraTire]

NTSB preliminary report is out, can't find a link though.

Elevator counter-balance screw came out, wasn't secured with a secondary means.

[Slick Goodlin]

Elevator counter-balance screw came out, wasn't secured with a secondary means.

What’s less clear is whether that was a cause, a contributor, or simply an observation.

[Colonel]

I’ve had the elevator jam and was able to fly and land with pitch trim but if the deflection is too great:



Snort died the same way.

Elevator jamming in the Pitts is such a common occurrence, there’s even a page in the POH saying how to deal with it, but to the best of my knowledge no one has ever read it.

Sean Tucker has jumped out of at least 3 Pitts that I know of. I think the last one was elevator control rod failure?