Yes it is supposed to be retracted and covered. The only thing
I heard there was it isnt supposed to be in the down position. And alot of speculation on what could of caused to to be in the down position. everything there looking into is the trim tab over stressing failure. From what the engeneers and FAA data is coming up with is a over 22.5 G posative overload on the air frame and over 30g on the trim tab. There saying a posative note for a very sad event was that . The inital g force snap in the upward direction didnt rip the wings and motor off the plane before the grandstand.
Reno Air Race
19 posts
• Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2
by asianflava » Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:36 pm
This is an e-mail that a buddy sent me.
Subject: Reno accident
At 74, shouldn’t he have been grounded?
Here's an authorative report summary on the P-51 (Galloping Ghost) accident at Reno earlier this month.
A P-51 normally has two trim tabs, one on each elevator. Galloping Ghost had one and the second one was fixed in place. The pilot was warned about the forces being put on that one working tab. It failed. He had at least a 11G load when the plane pitched up from the loss of the trim tab. He passed out and probably never regained consciousness.
Here's the "theory" of the crash from experienced racers: In 1989 a similar situation happened to another pilot but he lived to tell the story. When flying a P-51 at 450+mph you need to have full nose down trim to keep the plane level. The elevator trim tab broke off and the aircraft immediately went in to a 10G climb, confirmed by the G meter. The pilot came to, from the sudden blackout and realized he had slipped through the shoulder harness and was looking at the floor of the airplane. He was able to reach the throttle and pull it back to slow down and was able to recover and land.
Fast forward to 2011
- Photo one is the airplane taxiing, note the pilots head in the canopy.
- Photo two is typical oil canning as a result of the tremendous torque these engines put out at high power.
- Photo three is a photo of GG upside down with a missing elevator trim tab.Note all you see is the back of the pilots head indicating he is being forced down in the cockpit.
- Photo four is a view of the left side nose down with the tail wheel extended and no view of the pilot. The tail wheel is held up by hydraulics only with no mechanical up-lock, thus indicating a high G-force causing it to extend.
- Photos five and six are from the left side prior to impact, note no view of the pilot and the tail wheel extended.
- Photo seven is the debris just after the crash. To the right of center above the crowd appears to be the wing with the leading edge down.
The people were mostly hit by chunks of concrete, asphalt and aircraft debris. They were also hurt by the trampling of people getting out of the way.
Telemetry downloaded from Galloping Ghost revealed an 11g pullup, fuel flow interrupted on the way up, and then the engine restarted when fuel flow resumed at the top of the arc. The aircraft was making 105 inches of Manifold Pressure on the way down.
Colleen Keller
Sport Class Race 8 Crew
Subject: Reno accident
At 74, shouldn’t he have been grounded?
Here's an authorative report summary on the P-51 (Galloping Ghost) accident at Reno earlier this month.
A P-51 normally has two trim tabs, one on each elevator. Galloping Ghost had one and the second one was fixed in place. The pilot was warned about the forces being put on that one working tab. It failed. He had at least a 11G load when the plane pitched up from the loss of the trim tab. He passed out and probably never regained consciousness.
Here's the "theory" of the crash from experienced racers: In 1989 a similar situation happened to another pilot but he lived to tell the story. When flying a P-51 at 450+mph you need to have full nose down trim to keep the plane level. The elevator trim tab broke off and the aircraft immediately went in to a 10G climb, confirmed by the G meter. The pilot came to, from the sudden blackout and realized he had slipped through the shoulder harness and was looking at the floor of the airplane. He was able to reach the throttle and pull it back to slow down and was able to recover and land.
Fast forward to 2011
- Photo one is the airplane taxiing, note the pilots head in the canopy.
- Photo two is typical oil canning as a result of the tremendous torque these engines put out at high power.
- Photo three is a photo of GG upside down with a missing elevator trim tab.Note all you see is the back of the pilots head indicating he is being forced down in the cockpit.
- Photo four is a view of the left side nose down with the tail wheel extended and no view of the pilot. The tail wheel is held up by hydraulics only with no mechanical up-lock, thus indicating a high G-force causing it to extend.
- Photos five and six are from the left side prior to impact, note no view of the pilot and the tail wheel extended.
- Photo seven is the debris just after the crash. To the right of center above the crowd appears to be the wing with the leading edge down.
The people were mostly hit by chunks of concrete, asphalt and aircraft debris. They were also hurt by the trampling of people getting out of the way.
Telemetry downloaded from Galloping Ghost revealed an 11g pullup, fuel flow interrupted on the way up, and then the engine restarted when fuel flow resumed at the top of the arc. The aircraft was making 105 inches of Manifold Pressure on the way down.
Colleen Keller
Sport Class Race 8 Crew
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