Horrifying Crash at Oshkosh in 2007

[MIflyer]

I had never heard of this crash until I saw a recent Youtube video. On 27 July 2007 during the Oshkosh EAA airshow, a P-51D and P-51A tried to land at the same time. They collided and the P-51A crashed and exploded next to the runway, killing the pilot.

 

[Sisu]

That was a tough one because it involved people I knew and liked. The P-51A was particularly interesting because Gerry built it from scratch. It was a remarkable effort, and having it destroyed in an unnecessary accident was really sad...

 

[Engineman]

Yes, that was a sad loss.
Generally, I support warbird displays as they are the reason for many warbird rebuilds and the support they give to historic aviation. However, sometimes the boundaries of pilot skill, recency and practice are stretched beyond the safety values that should be upheld.
IMO, the straightforward operation of most high performance warbirds is demanding enough for most skilled modern pilots. What often seems to cause problems is the addition of more demanding circumstances, such as formation flying and tightly sequenced arrangements where, despite the skill of the individual pilots, operating caution will be reduced and pressonitis will result in reduced safety margins.
I do not comment on this particular incident, other than it was a sad event.

Eng

 

[MIflyer]

having it destroyed in an unnecessary accident was really sad...

Yes, the loss of life was tragic, but it was not a couple of 172's or Bonanzas, but a genuine aeronautical treasure that was loved by its owner and admired by thousands of others.

I do not comment on this particular incident, other than it was a sad event.

It was a "simulated" air race with who was to be in which spot preplanned. In addition to the P-51A and P-51D, there was a Sea Fury, an F4U, and an F7F. The P-51D pilot was supposed to land first because he had lots of experience but none with dealing with wake turbulence from tightly packed aircraft. So he thought he was landing first and the F7F thought he was landing first but took too long to slow down and went for last place. The P-51A was going to land, refuel, and take on a passenger and take back off. So the P-51D came in to land and saw the P-51A in the pattern and thought he had already landed and refueled and was exiting the pattern. One radio call could have averted the disaster.

I have twice been in circumstances where if I'd had a radio handy I could have prevented a mishap. Once, a Cessna 210 decided that with a 30G35 wind out of 060 the correct runway to use was 110. We had no AWOS on the field at the time but the winds info was available from the nearby Air Force Base ATIS if he had thought to check. He overrran the runway, took out a runway sign with his prop, but fortunately there was a lot of grass overrun area available at that end. The other case a guy was landing a Cessna 177RG with the wheels up.