[NoLibZone]

On You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNePeKn3Tg&feature=player_embedded

[steveo]

Just read KOLO TV twelve dead as many as 100 injured. Hit directly into box seats.

[Candor7]

RIP Jimy Leeward.

My guess is too many Gs pulled and resulting black out.

[Del Rapier]

Don’t know whether to laugh hysterically or just scream at this kind of event.

Horrible situation.

[Zakeet]

KOLO TV: Reports of 12 Dead at Least 30 Critically Injured at Reno Air Races

[NonValueAdded]

Draper identified the pilot of the P-51 Mustang as Jimmy Leeward of Florida.

Leeward is the owner of the Leeward Air Ranch Racing Team and is a well-known racing pilot. His website says he has flown more than 120 races and served as a stunt pilot for numerous movies, including "Amelia" and "Cloud Dancer."

[null and void]

Ping

[TribalPrincess2U]

Gee I hope Reid wasn’t there.

What would Nevada do without him.

[I cannot think of a name]

Well that’s the end of Reno.

Gary Levitz’s (sp)crash a few years ago darn near wiped out the event, and this will do it. No possibility of insurance. Really unfortunate, but the planes, the pilots, and fans are all getting older. I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

[Palladin]

Horrible! I always shudder when they have one of these events at an airport near me. Way too dangerous in a populated area—even worse at an event with audience.

[Ralph the Hun]

Just got off the phone with my Father who is at Reno today. He's safe, but wasn't too far away from where it happened.
He knew Jimmy when he was modifying this plane at an airport in McKinney Texas.
He said that Jimmy's plane was an extremely modified P51, with shortened-sculpted wings, very small bubble canopy, very high performance engine, and no air scoop in the front (instead had a water cooler and water tank where a fuel tank would be in the wing). He said it was a plane that was modified to the extreme for as much speed as possible. However, it probably operated at the edge.
Just heard that the rest of the races have been canceled.

Prayers to all.

[PLMerite]

Just a week or so ago I was telling a co-worker who is from Reno, that I’d always wanted to see the Reno Air Races.

[Candor7]

This is not a WWII fighter plane as the thread article states, but a custom built AC using parts of the P51 pattern. This is clear if you look at Jimmy’s Facebook album, “Ghost Story.”

[e_castillo]

Live stream from the event. The crash occurs around the 30 minutes mark. WARNING GRAPHIC!

http://www.livestream.com/loadedtv/video?clipId=pla_b2efcd7d-ed04-4edf-89e8-f21ff436ccb4

[3boysdad]

I used to live in Reno and enjoyed the air races very much. And electrical engineer that works with me here in Wyo (also from Reno) is still very connected with the air races. He's a pilot and in his 70’s too. His son was working the air races and he was the first person I called when I heard the news to make sure his son was okay - and he was, and with many first hand accounts to convey. The first thing he said was they were going to question the pilot of Ghost Rider's age, and he was right by the posts in here. Most of these pilots are of “age” to some degree.

It's a tragedy for sure, but the real tragedy is that the media, et. al., will try and twist this towards shutting this 30 year classic American event down in the end.

This isn't the first “airshow” type event that things have gone wrong either. You're an idiot if you think nothing can happen to you when you attend these type of events.

But I digress... health and safety for everyone! Because everyone needs to live forever and lay servile to the state.

My hat's off to all the brave men and women who participate in and attend this glorious American event... including 80 year-olds with balls enough to fly faster and better than I ever could! I'd rather die like that than waiting for my next social security check. This is freedom.

[rawhide]

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybgd0EfxWCI

[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.

[eartrumpet]