Posted on 09/16/2011 5:15:37 PM PDT by umgud
Emergency crews are heading to a reported plane crash at the Reno-Stead Airport. The accident happened just before 4:30pm during the National Championship Air Races. Witnesses tell our reporter Chris Ciarlo planes in the unlimited race were ascending when a P51 Mustang started to nose dive and then crashed near a spectator stand in the southeast corner. Ciarlo says the plane was third in contention when the crash happened. The plane DID NOT hit the stands, it hit nearby tables instead. As a result, airport personnel and military are evacuating thousands of spectators. Several emergency vehicles are currently headed to the scene. There's no official word yet on any injuries. Just yesterday, a pilot had to make a hard landing after his plane had engine problems and declared an emergency. The air races are canceled for the rest of today.
0 may announce the kinetic energy and gravity bill of 2011 and appoint a gravity czar to determine which recreational activities might generate too much resistance to gravity.
Well, you can count me as one who is seeing it.
Look again, now you don’t. Third thread posted and not a one linked to in Breaking News
I saw a brief story on Fox and just knew to come to FR to find the true story...
This sounds truly horrific.
Prayers to everyone.
I see all of them. They are all on this page—and still here when I refresh.
Leeward was a bit old IMHO to be out racing he was 80
11:00 News channel 8 showed a VERY clear still photo of a trim-tab coming off the plane’s tail just before the pilot lost full control.
The trim-tab is not that large a part, it is part of the horizontal stabilizer.
Apparently, losing it made this plane uncontrollable.
So, it seems fairly clear that this was a mechanical failure at racing speed.
No doubt the NTSB will have more to say, in several months.
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