[rainee]

Just read this on another post..thoughts?? From the comments section of youtube: My Aunt and Uncle were there. The elevator trim tab came off and the plane became uncontrollable. My Uncles brother was flying the 4th plane, right behind the one that crashed and had to watch it happen. Age had nothing to do with this, even a 20 year-old pilot would have crashed. Have some respect and keep everyone involved in your prayers, no matter what God you pray to. MrMartell77 2 minutes ago

[Aria]

Mechanical failure, obviously.

Many moons ago my husband and I were in Vegas and were watching air races when one of the planes suddenly fell and created a cloud of dirt. His family - looked like wife and mother - went running towards the field. Horrible.

Too dangerous and no room for error at that altitude. But in this case sounds like altitude wouldn’t have helped.

[Loyal Sedition]

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.