An airshow story about a Canadian

[JW Scud]

Thanks for the info. Of course, most of us can figure out that they crashed due to the high level of risk but in the end, you are pretty much the only one I know that can provide the detailed analysis from the aerobatics point of view which is useful and perhaps info that the safety board doesn't mention. I read about the P-47 accident for Bill G and he unfortunately had a straight engine failure at 1000'. I don't know if he had a parachute, but he ditched the aircraft in the river but unfortunately the canopy was not fully jettisoned for reasons unknown making it difficult to escape. Not an aerobatic accident while of course, still tragic.

You mentioned Charlie Schwenker and I looked up that accident. According to an article online,

"The probable cause report said the videos showed the airplane began a shallow climb to re-position for the maneuver. The 450-horsepower plane appeared to be flying slower than normal, investigators said. A left roll to turn the aircraft upside down, or inverted, was stopped before completed, the report said.During the last seconds of the flight, the plane’s flight path shifted from east to east-northeast “which directed it outside the performance area and toward a Boeing 757 parked near aircraft hangars” about three-tenths of a mile and east-southeast of the crash site, NTSB said. The Boeing 757 was in a static display area, airshow officials said.Just 1.3 seconds before the crash, the plane rolled right and “then abruptly pitched toward the ground before impact,” NTSB said.In a factual narrative report released before the probable cause findings, NTSB investigators noted the speed of the nearly inverted plane dropped from 106 miles per hour to 82 mph just before the plane’s left wing struck the ground.“Of note,” the report said, “the maneuver’s targeted airspeed is reported to be 110 mph.”Before the performance, an airshow crew member said he heard Wicker tell Schwenker that he had flown too fast previously for her to position herself on the wing, the NTSB reported. Wicker was a six-year wing walking veteran who had performed the maneuver for three years.The probable cause report, which also highlighted the plane’s drop in airspeed, said it wasn’t known if the two talked about it during the performance, but it was “likely that the pilot flew a more gradual maneuver to reduce the forces against the wing walker while she repositioned herself on the wing, which resulted in the entry into the maneuver not being set up as expected and created a tighter turn radius.”

"Sean D. Tucker, a veteran air show performer who witnessed the crash, said Monday he concurred with the NTSB’s findings.
“It’s clear that to me that it was pilot error,” he said. “There was nothing wrong with the airplane and it was a flawed maneuver. He executed it poorly.”

So it looks like his attempt to accomodate the wingwalker put them in peril.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nt ... xPoVLiSaI/

[Slick Goodlin]

[quote author=JW Scud link=topic=9554.msg27282#msg27282 date=1553276672]
So it looks like his attempt to accomodate the wingwalker put them in peril.
[/quote]
That's up there with the pilots I know who have nearly run out of fuel "So we don't inconvenience the fueler."

[Colonel]

Fascinating.  I knew he entered the half roll too slow
but never knew why.

[JW Scud]

Any idea what caused this crash?

[Colonel]

I think I remember that one.  It sure looked like
improper spin recovery technique to me at the
time.  Never saw the official report.

NB everybody likes to talk about pilot incapacitation
but I have trouble with that, because a Pitts
recovers just fine from a spin if you let go of the
stick and stop doing very bad things with the
elevator and ailerons.

See Gene Beggs and Eric Mueller and Spencer
Suderman, after his finds his prop.