P51 crashes at air show

[Armistead]

Terrible crash, not sure how many died, but they say 40 are critical.

Includes video of crash.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...1_lnk3%7C96356

[Torplexed]

Horrific. Begining to wonder if it isn't time to retire the remaining flyable WW2 warbirds to the museum.

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Horrific. Begining to wonder if it isn't time to retire the remaining flyable WW2 warbirds to the museum.

Maybe, but the pilot was, from what I hear, 80 years old. That may have been one of the problems also.

It is a tragedy, either way. =(

[magic452]

My son called me to say he was alive, I didn't know what he was talking about. Turns out he was working the air races as a sound engineer and the P51 crashed about 30 feet right in front of him. I hadn't heard about it yet, only happened 45 minutes before.

He's a retired EMT and was helping with the injured and said there were dead but he didn't know how many. At last count 54 had been admitted to three different hospitals and 2 are confirmed dead as well as the pilot.

The plane exploded into tiny fragments and only the engine was at all recognizable and it was in several pieces. It hit at race speed 400+ MPH almost vertical. No fire as they only carry enough fuel for the race and it was almost over. It missed the box seats by a few yards and all the injuries were from flying debris. Fortunately the plane was moving away from the stands or it would have been much worse. The planes fly very fast and very low 100+ feet, a bad situation if you have problems.

The pilot Jimmy Leeward,was only 74 and in excellent health and a veteran of the races, well known here. You have to under go a very strong FAA physical in order to race. The whole event is under FAA supervision.

There have been 19 pilots that have died since the races started in the 1960's but this is the first time spectators have been injured or killed.

Magic

[gimpy117]

old airframe? lets face it, the P-51's are old. I wouldn't be surprised if some failure caused the erratic flight path described

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by magic452

My son called me to say he was alive, I didn't know what he was talking about. Turns out he was working the air races as a sound engineer and the P51 crashed about 30 feet right in front of him.

30 feet (aprox 10m)

That's really too close for comfort, glad to hear he's okay
real shame that some wheren't as fortunate.

HunterICX

old airframe?

Or the new engine?

[Jimbuna]

Three dead, more than 50 injured....I'm suprised they are still allowed to fly so close to the spectators, we stopped that here in the UK some time ago.

Pilot was 74 years old....how tragic

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=140555527

[Oberon]

Such a terrible shame, some reports indicate that the pilot managed to pull the nose up a bit and correct her course to avoid hitting the 'bleacher' section. Jimmy Leeward certainly seems the type of pilot to try his best to avoid casualties, he was certainly not wet behind the ears.

I think rather than retire the P-51s to the museums they should just be taken out of the racing circuit. Still have them at airshows, but the kind of stresses that the airframe must be under during racing must surely take its toll on the old girl. Don't get me wrong, I love to hear the P-51 in full barrel, particularly that wailing noise from the open gun ports, something special that is, and I am fully confident in the P-51s ability to race, but when a racehorse gets to a certain age, well...it's time to put them out to pasture or to easier races.

Irregardless, this is a terrible incident, and my condolences to all involved.

[danny60]

The latest figures are 3 dead, 57 injured

[Armistead]

I don't think it has anything to do with the P51 itself or it's frame being too old, but physical condition or not, 74 is too old to be racing planes.

[stoppro]

I met the pilot a couple of time at his home in ocala. he had that 'never gets old' flyboy look that i see on many older pilots. the flying community up there is called ,leeward ranches, it was named for him when he built it. there is a runway behind almost every home. pretty cool place .he died going what he loved to do except i am sure he didin't intend to kill anyone, sad

[CaptainHaplo]

I'd rather have a 74 year old experienced pilot than a 25 year old wet behind the ears one.

Many people better be thankful he was experienced. Word from the scene is that it was a mechanical issue of some sort, and that the aircraft behavior indicates the pilot did all he could to avoid an even bigger tragedy. If it had been an inexperienced pilot behind the stick, its likely many more would be dead today.

I am under 40, but I have a serious issue with saying that age alone should disqualify a person from doing something. There are people at 65 who should not even be allowed to drive, and there are people at 80 who do just fine. Generalities are not a basis for restricting the rights of people.

[Biggles]

Any plane can crash or malfunction. No matter the age or type, the RAF Red Tails didn't fly WWII era planes now did they?

In any case, a horrific accident. I read now on a Swedish newspaper site that the pilot apparently managed to alter his course in the last seconds from a crowded spectator stand, so the deathtoll could've been much higher. In any case, a tragic event.

[Hottentot]

Saw it from our newspaper too and immediately thought there would be a thread about it in here. Scary. Reminds you just how death can come anywhere and without a warning. To think that those people had left their homes just to spend a day and have a good time.

On lighter note, our media shines again. It's somewhat difficult to translate into English, but they say first in Finnish, "the plane's model was" and then copy straight from an English source: "World War II P-51 Mustang". I wouldn't complain even if they mixed a P-51 and P-47, but is it too much to ask the journalist to actually think for a second before pressing the "submit article" button?