Bruce Evans killed in airshow crash

[CD]

[Url=http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/11044346][u]Bruce Evans killed in airshow crash [/u][/Url]

COLD LAKE, Alta. — A plane has crashed at an air show in Cold Lake, Alta. killing the pilot.

Capt. Matthew Strong, a public affairs officer with 4 Wing at CFB Cold Lake, says the T-28 Trojan went down during a performance at the show shortly before 2 p.m.

Strong says the pilot, Bruce Evans, did not survive.

The Trojan is a propeller driven aircraft that was used to train pilots in the 50s and 60s.

Spectator Cathy Heron says the plane did a loop, inverted, and then dove straight down.

Heron says there weren’t any flames — just dust as it hit the ground.

[Fendermandan]

Tragedy for sure. What went wrong?

[Colonel]

No video that I can find.  Generally that tells the story.

It's all about top gate, and entry gate.  The guy in
England in the Hunter at Shoreham didn't understand
what a top gate was.  Also, the Idaho F-16 didn't
make his top gate, either.

One thing that's pretty common with large, heavy
warbirds (esp on hot days) is getting low on energy
and too-slow entry speed for a vertical maneuver
(missed entry gate) which means that you almost
stop over the top - not enough kinetic energy to
convert to potential energy, and have some left over.

At zero speed inverted at the top of a loop, and
full throttle, it's quite easy to torque out into an
inverted spin.  Did it the first time I flew a PT-22
Ryan and tried to baby it on the loop entry speed/G.

Once you are aware of this trap - I have fallen
out of the top of more vertical maneuvers than
you would believe, often in formation - you learn
that at the first sign of yaw, you snap the throttle
totally shut, to stop the prop from causing any
more problems from torque.  Unfortunately pilots
are taught to never, ever do that with a super-charged
radial engine.

Also keep in mind that the effects of gyroscopic
precession from those huge metal props can be
quite something at slow speeds, when your flight
controls don't do much.  Any yaw produces a pitch
change, and any pitch change produces a yaw.

But without video, or expert eye-witness information,
you don't really know for sure.  Perhaps his airplane
broke somehow.  They are known for having delicate
tails.  Freddy used to roll one on takeoff, and he told
me to be very gentle with the tail if I ever flew one.

It's too bad - this business relentlessly consumes
people.  He was a nice guy - I met him at Gatineau,
a few times.  He was a buddy of Todd's.