[DeTomaso] Reno Air Race

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Fri Sep 16 21:35:20 EDT 2011


In a message dated 9/16/11 18 14 33, forestg at att.net writes:


> There was just a bad crash at the Reno air races. Initial report is 12 
> dead and
> 75 injured.
> 

An eyewitness on a local news station just said that he heard a pop, and 
saw that an elevator trim tab popped off, which would potentially cause 
serious controllability problems in the pitch plane.   The airplane probably 
pitched up uncontrollably, then the pilot rolled to try to recover, but was 
unable to do so.   Had he rolled immediately when it pitched up, he could have 
possibly transitioned to a tight right turn, but the nose was too high when 
the roll started, and the thing just augered in.

I hate it when that happens. :<(

I actually had a somewhat similar thing happen to me in the C-5 a few weeks 
ago.   I was sitting in the jumpseat, and the pilot flying did a tight 
360-degree 45-degree banked turn with gear and flaps down, which requires quite 
a lot of back pressure on the yoke to hold level flight.   He unwittingly 
ran the stab trim full nose-high in the turn, and when he rolled wings level, 
the nose suddenly pitched upwards.   He was pushing full forward on the yoke 
but the plane continued to pitch up; he had completely lost control.   We 
got through 20+ degrees nose high (max allowed is 15) and airspeed plummeted 
from 180 to 108 knots in just a couple of seconds.   We were on the verge of 
stall when he rolled back into right bank, the nose sliced down through the 
horizon and we transitioned to a right descending turn.   I recognized and 
pointed out the fact that he'd trimmed the stab excessively nose-up, and he 
corrected it and got things under control again in a few more seconds.

We were no more than three or four seconds away from stalling out and 
plummeting into the ground; the only thing that saved us was his decision to 
transition to a turn.   But if the nose had been higher when he rolled into a 
banked turn (as it was with the Mustang today), it wouldn't have helped.

Aviation is a very unforgiving discipline....

Mike


More information about the DeTomaso mailing list