Actual news source for the linked video, rather than the blog that copied it.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1170787492001/new-theory-on-cause-of-deadly-nevada-air-race-crash
I read earlier that the pilot did something that kept the plane from plowing into the grandstand instead of just in front of the grandstand.
If this is true, and the pilot wasn’t in control, it was God who kept the plane from plowing into the grandstand.
We’re all fired up about one person in a plane crash.
But we’re killing hundreds of babies more than that every day, and there are nearly 60,000 alcohol-related traffic deaths every year.
Some things we just seem not to notice.
People are funny, in a not-so-funny way.
As to the cause, I merely assumed it to be Bush's fault, like every other calamity.
Too complicated.
My initial guess was heart attack, and I’m sticking with it.
Stick right, and then foreward, which would be quite likely if it was his tikker, would produce the observed motion.
The pilot was 74...he could have had a heart attack.
Either God lets things happen or controls everything that happens. Which is it? Or does God sometimes and capriciously (or if you prefer, mysteriously) interfere, intervenes? Because if God doesn’t control human destiny, having given man free will, then why pray for miracles, for strength, for assistance?!
Someone has suggested a heart attack and another offered passing out from G forces.
Neither is likely since (A) these guys are the most medically checked and approved breed on earth, (B) since he'd been racing for years, he'd been hitting those same G forces for a long, long, time without blacking out, and (C) the forces in a race such as this push back and down - into the seat - not the head slamming & canopy banging you'd see in aerobatics.
Although this 'plane had raced a lot of times before, I don't think it is far-fetched to consider the seat simply breaking away from it's base, or the base from the airframe, etc. Bolts can work loose or be left loose after maintenance, and welds can fail from long use or poor technique.
It is also likely that any bulkhead behind the pilot and any equipment originally instilled there was long gone to reduce weight. He could have gone a long way back in the fuselage and a long way away from the controls and then held there because the aircraft was accelerating and he was no longer attached.
Which leaves the very chilling thought that he was trying to climb back to regain control the entire time from climb to crash.
Why, what on earth could ever go wrong?? /s
The news keeps bringing up the fact that the pilot was 74 years old. Big deal. So long as they can pass their FAA medical exam and are current in make and model of aircraft they fly then it makes no difference how old they are. Chuck Yeager flew an F-15D when he was 74. The chase plane for the flight was an F-16 Fighting Falcon piloted by Bob Hoover, a famous air-show pilot, and his wingman for the first supersonic flight was 75.
Bump for reference.
1. Jimmy hits wake turbulence of the plane ahead of him.
2. The trim tab breaks off.
3. The elevator unloads.
4. The aircraft pitches up with > 15 Gees applied (this is known from telemetry).
5. Jimmy GLOCs, head goes forward - the G loads must have also broken his shoulder harness mounting bolts or the straps themselves (less likely) or the latch.
6. The aircraft, still at full power, goes ballistic.
There was no heroic pilot saving the day - he was just a passenger in those last few seconds.