Texas air show crash

[Minusorange]

I read it was the sole surviving P63F as only 2 were ever made, now 0 of them exist, not even on display after this crash

And now there's only 4 air worthy B17's left

There's a still photo that captured that captured the immediate impact, looks like most of the cockpit was destroyed so perhaps the crew died on impact with the plane and didn't live those terrifying seconds of helplessly falling to the ground

 

[Freakbro]

Ooof that's one hell of a collision

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Awful crash the fighter cut the tail off the B-17…. Not good.

 

[Hades]

I just watched it. Jesus! RIP

 

[dazzlaa]

Awful mid air collision. There is always inherent risk doing close air manoeuvres in the old air frames due to lack of technology and even just viewing angles etc.

I read elsewhere that at this particular air show they were offering “paid for” flights too, meaning a possibility of civilian loss of life also. RIP to all involved.

 

[Brazo]

It looks very deliberate to me, with the speed and angle of the smaller plane and no attempt by it to avoid the collision.

It can certainly look that way from the video. However as many others have said in this thread visibility can be poor from inside these fighter planes and I suspect it was poor flying rather than a deliberate ram.

 

[Minusorange]

If anybody interested you can get a look at the cockpit later in the vid, same aircraft that caused the collision yesterday

 

[Deleted member 236143]

There is plenty pics available of a P63 cockpit and is enough to show they would simply not have seen the other plane.

 

[Efour]

Man that's terrible but from a morbid fascinating insight it gives perspektiv to how that kind of manoeuvre happened in the ww2.

Rip to the crews.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

There’s many good reasons why the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight spend a lot of time practicing formation flying and not having this happen is one of them.

Using serving or former RAF pilots and crew with decades of experience is also a factor.

 

[dlockers]

There’s many good reasons why the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight spend a lot of time practicing formation flying and not having this happen is one of them.

Using serving or former RAF pilots and crew with decades of experience is also a factor.

Not sure serving pilots makes a huge difference, these things are an entirely different beast (rear tailgear planes). I get your point though.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

It was more about the thorough planning and discipline of execution of each manoeuvre that the RAF pilots are famed for than the type of airframe they’re in.

 

[Minusorange]

There’s many good reasons why the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight spend a lot of time practicing formation flying and not having this happen is one of them.

Using serving or former RAF pilots and crew with decades of experience is also a factor.

No amount of training will save you if it's a mechanical fault though, everybody quick to blame the pilot but he could have suffered a mechanical failure and loss of control

 

[Harlequin]

From watching the videos; it appears the P63 was too fast / out of position so was banking hard to rejoin the fighter formation, left wing down so i dont think he even saw the B17 till the mishap. What was the ATC doing ?

 

[bigmike20vt]

its a horrendous crash and obviously feel sorry for those in the collision.... but its lucky really that it did not happen over a populated area. I saw a accident once (video i was not there!) where the crash hit the spectators, along with dragging a load of fencing along with it increasing the area of devastation.
Pilots make errors, they are only human, but why on earth do they not have retrofitted modern computer equipment installed when at airshows etc. loads could have died.

 

[dlockers]

its a horrendous crash and obviously feel sorry for those in the collision.... but its lucky really that it did not happen over a populated area. I saw a accident once (video i was not there!) where the crash hit the spectators, along with dragging a load of fencing along with it increasing the area of devastation.
Pilots make errors, they are only human, but why on earth do they not have retrofitted modern computer equipment installed when at airshows etc. loads could have died.

The infamous Farnborough crash of 1952 killed 31, and they kept the show rolling.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Farnborough_Airshow_crash

 

[Efour]

The infamous Farnborough crash of 1952 killed 31, and they kept the show rolling.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Farnborough_Airshow_crash

Id never heard of that before today. Crazy

The one that comes to mind for me is the russian airshow. SU27 or MIG29 crashing on the airfield and ploughing the crowd.... awful....

su27 Ukraine, oh well i was a kid :O

 

[Terminal_Boy]

No amount of training will save you if it's a mechanical fault though, everybody quick to blame the pilot but he could have suffered a mechanical failure and loss of control

We‘ll have to wait for the investigation to publish its findings, but the fighter plane appears to be under control and executing a turn at the time it strikes the B-17.

 

[Mysterae_]

The one that comes to mind for me is the russian airshow. SU27 or MIG29 crashing on the airfield and ploughing the crowd.... awful....

Yes, that one was horrific, the plane supposedly caught a wire fence while skimming the ground thus mowing down a lot of spectators. Then you see the pilot who ejected just walking through the carnage like he was the boss.

 

[Uther]

It's usually highly experienced pilots flying these warbirds, with decades of experience. That also can make then fairly old though, so I would put it down to pilot error, not a malfunction.
Names and pictures of the crews released now. The Kingcobra pilot had been flying for the airlines since 1982 and had over 34000 hours.