Reno Air Crash

[jayb]

I'm sure everyone was as horrified as I was by the P-51 crash at the Reno air races.  Here's an interesting link that seems to indicate that the seat came loose in the plane, causing the pilot to lose control:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/20/photos-suggest-pilot-in-deadly-reno-air-crash-had-broken-seat-aviation-expert/

[Kerry j]

The more I looks at the pictures and watch what the plane did when it puller out of the race, the more it looks to me like the broken seat it what caused the crash. Jimmy Leeward was an extremely accomplished pilot and everyone I've read says he was one of the best. He had been racing that plane at Reno for many years as I understand it.

[Kerry j]

NTSB has issues it's preliminary report; not much in it we don't already know:

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20110917X22412&key=1

I still think the seat broke somewhere along the way, which is why Jimmy lost control.

[jayb]

Yes, it will be interesting to see what they decide about the crash.  I can see this happening if the seat broke loose from its mounts and suddenly went backwards in the fuselage.  But I wonder if the rules for this event don't stipulate that the seat has a support bar of some sort to prevent this from happening?  The same thing can happen in a drag car, of course, probably with less dire consequences but dangerous nonetheless.  That is why the roll bar and roll cage regulations in the NHRA rules specify that the roll bar has a crossbar that supports the seat.  If the safety rules for the Reno air races don't have this kind of a requirement, they certainly should...