Sickening airshow crash, Dallas

[JohnR]

A P-63 chopped a B-17 in half today in midair. I had to go watch the video and wish I hadn’t. I just gotta vent a little. :mad:

[jeepster09]

That is sad. I would not want to ever go to an air show! To many HOBBY pilots that cause errors due to lack of current air time. Most crashes are from HOBBY [or retired] pilots at small airports.
I live near a lake here in Minnesota and get nervous watching amateur's practicing their take off and landings on the lake, flying right over peoples homes. I tried reporting it once and the FAA did not care. [Even though aviation law has rules about flying within 500 feet of houses.] It seems the Oshkosh air show has a crash every year.

[JohnR]

Warbird pilots in airshows are highly professional and get recurrent training to qualify for shows, but one instant of inattentiveness is all it takes to do this.

[lesptr]

That is sad. I would not want to ever go to an air show! To many HOBBY pilots that cause errors due to lack of current air time. Most crashes are from HOBBY [or retired] pilots at small airports.
I live near a lake here in Minnesota and get nervous watching amateur's practicing their take off and landings on the lake, flying right over peoples homes. I tried reporting it once and the FAA did not care. [Even though aviation law has rules about flying within 500 feet of houses.] It seems the Oshkosh air show has a crash every year.

Where that reg refers to 500 feet from houses, it also says “except for takeoff and landing”

[djd100]

Tragic, so sorry to hear!

I'm thinking either the P63 lost power and the pilot was nosing down trying to gain airspeed as they were low and slow and in a bank/turn, or control surface(s), or the P63's pilot had a medical emergency and just nosed over into the B17 which he clearly could've seen and tried to take evasive action which he did not appear to do? The poor people in the B17 likely never saw it coming from 8:00 high as there's typically only one guy in the rear fuselage IME (riding in the Collins Foundation's B24), who was likely watching the crowd. Just tragic!

RIP people, though AFAIK there were no tourists on board this time, unlike last time when the Collings Foundation's B17 went down with engine failure back in 2019, carrying a full crew and tourists.

Sucks...

My Dad flew B24's and B29's, so I'm a old Warbird fan...

[getsome]

Well just damn……My son and I took a ride at PDK airport in a B-17 called the Liberty Belle several years ago and it was quite the experience and one I’ll never forget……The pilot let the kids into the cockpit and they loved every minute of it……The flight crew was very professional and the time we spent in the air was fantastic but a couple years later the Liberty Belle went down in a Midwest corn field with an engine fire and burned pretty much to the ground…..A couple years ago at the PDK air show a very experienced pilot in a stunt plane failed to pull up after a barrel roll and smacked into the runway killing himself, stunning the crowd watching……….What happened at Dallas is very sad, who knows what went wrong but just damn……..

[BirdsThaWord]

I’d have to search old pics, but I swear the Liberty Bell was the one me and my buddy climbed all around in when it was on a display at a little local airport as a teen.
Yes, that was sickening to watch. I had a dream as a kid about watching a plane crash and was sick to my stomach over thinking of the death, even though I knew it was only a dream.

[jeepster09]

Where that reg refers to 500 feet from houses, it also says “except for takeoff and landing”

Well I don't think it is a good idea for a plane to repeatedly fly over a house within 100 feet. I have seen same plane do it about 30 times from a busy suburban lake that is full of boats.
Recently here in Minnesota a plane crashed at another suburban lake.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/airplane-pulled-to-shore-sunday-after-crashing-into-white-bear-lake-saturday-pilot-treated-for-minor-injuries/

[lesptr]

I agree that it is not a good idea.
I only stated what the regulation says.

[Planedude]

Very sad event. I've seen video from several angles and it looked to me that it was a matter of bad timing. The bombers were lumbering across in a nice single file line in a wide shallow turn running right down the runway. The P-63 was running in to do the same flyby, but with a much tighter turn and of course "fighter plane fast"...
IF you are making that turn in a fighter, at those speeds, you will need a ground reference point. Flying in a turn that tight and almost to your straight-run down the runway, that point would be right off your left wingtip. It may very well be thought that the P-63 pilot was looking to the reference point off the left wingtip and away from the line that the B-17 was on until too late, especially since the view of traffic under the aircraft is not great. If that is true, then the P-63 was running late to the show and that might explain the midair.
Of course, we will have to wait on the NTSB crash report. This is just me thinking out loud. A few times in my life I have made a living working on WWII aircraft and I feel a kinship with those lucky enough to do so today. They are an interesting and fun group of folks.
Prayers for those we lost this weekend and prayers for the families they leave behind.

Peace

[djd100]

Some expert opinion here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C342dfNPCyg (http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C342dfNPCyg)