Kit Mustang goes for a tumble at Reno

Colin1 · Sep 21, 2010

The pilot in this horror crash yesterday had a miraculous escape after emerging from his smashed plane unharmed.

US racer George Giboney had been flying in high winds in his kit-built Thunder Mustang plane - Rapid Travel - at the Reno Air Races in Nevada. Lucky George, of Des Moines, let the crowd know he was fine with a thumbs up before going for a hospital check-up.

evangilder · Sep 21, 2010

I saw the aftermath, but those photos are amazing. Glad to hear he got out okay. The winds out there on Sunday were pretty bad, from what I heard.

mudpuppy · Sep 21, 2010

I'm glad to hear he's okay and no one else was injured...Geez!!!
Do you think that 2nd picture is showing the craft after it had cart-wheeled at least once? Looking at the damage on the wingtip and wondering how the engine and tail section are seperating...it looks like that to me.
Derek

Colin1 · Sep 21, 2010

Almost certainly
judging by the complete change of both foreground and background

Capt. Vick · Sep 21, 2010

mudpuppy said:
Do you think that 2nd picture is showing the craft after it had cart-wheeled at least once? Looking at the damage on the wingtip and wondering how the engine and tail section are seperating...it looks like that to me.
Derek

Yes definately. The opposite wing tip is damaged, the spinner is smashed and throwing dirt and the background is different. How does someone survive that?

tail end charlie · Sep 21, 2010

Capt. Vick said:
Yes definately. How does someone survive that?

Very dizzy and relieved I guess

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Sep 21, 2010

Wow! Glad to hear he made it out alright.

mikewint · Sep 21, 2010

eagle, as with everyone i am certainly glad that the pilot is OK but I have two questions.
1. I would call this pilot error. if he had been higher the wing tip would have missed the ground. or did the high winds cause a problem that could not have been foreseen?
2. In general a "kit" plane. how safe? the kit maker cannot control construction of his kit. could this be due to poor material or construction?

Colin1 · Sep 21, 2010

mikewint said:
eagle, as with everyone i am certainly glad that the pilot is OK but I have two questions.
1. I would call this pilot error. if he had been higher the wing tip would have missed the ground. or did the high winds cause a problem that could not have been foreseen?
2. In general a "kit" plane. how safe? the kit maker cannot control construction of his kit. could this be due to poor material or construction?

In the first pic
looks like he was just coming in or just going out; critical times for a pilot and aircraft.

Kit plane yes, but it could just be the light construction of such an aircraft that caused the tip-over when the wind caught him

evangilder · Sep 21, 2010

Winds were gusting at 30 knots at the time of the accident. He was making a dead-stick landing at the time, which really gives no margin for error. As for the safety of the Thunder Mustang, there are many of them out there that fly safely and a few were involved with the races over the week.

Officials say mechanical difficulties and high winds were to blame for plane crash Sunday at the National Championship Air Races at the Reno Stead Airport.

The Thunder Mustang piloted by George Giboney went down during the final lap of the Super Sport Gold championship race, according to a publicist for the event.

Giboney says he heard his plane -"Rapid Travel"- misfire a couple of times, and then the engine cut out and stopped completely. He called a "mayday," and when he attempted to land he hit the runway and bounced. That's when a wind gust took the plane off course and into the dirt, the plane then hit a bump and shot up into the air. The plane began to cartwheel and the plane came almost completely apart as it tumbled.

Pilot walks away from dramatic crash at Reno-Stead Airport - My News 4 - KRNV, Reno, NV

tail end charlie · Sep 21, 2010

evangilder said:
Winds were gusting at 30 knots at the time of the accident. He was making a dead-stick landing at the time, which really gives no margin for error. As for the safety of the Thunder Mustang, there are many of them out there that fly safely and a few were involved with the races over the week.

Pilot walks away from dramatic crash at Reno-Stead Airport - My News 4 - KRNV, Reno, NV

Looking at that it hardly seems the same accident, the second still photo shows the engine approximately where it should be but it had already been ripped off and bounced back approximately where it should be (for a fraction of a second). I'm not a pilot, would he be better with the wheels up, if he had time?

Capt. Vick · Sep 21, 2010

Wow the video explains better to me how he was NOT killed. It looks as though he was on the ground already and either bounce (hard landing) or hit something that threw him into the air and maybe wind played a part like they say... But boy those first couple of picture in my mind made it look like he was going hell-bent and dragged a tip.

evangilder · Sep 21, 2010

tail end charlie said:
Looking at that it hardly seems the same accident, the second still photo shows the engine approximately where it should be but it had already been ripped off and bounced back approximately where it should be (for a fraction of a second). I'm not a pilot, would he be better with the wheels up, if he had time?

He was attempting to land the airplane properly and winds took hold. When you have a dead motor and everything happening quickly, you only have so much time to get it right. Looking at where he was heading when it bounced, it was probably better that he hit the wingtip and cartwheeled. He was close to parked jets and just beyond that, the crowd line.

Gnomey · Sep 21, 2010

Pretty remarkable he got out unharmed. Pretty terrible crash.

tail end charlie · Sep 21, 2010

evangilder said:
He was attempting to land the airplane properly and winds took hold. When you have a dead motor and everything happening quickly, you only have so much time to get it right. Looking at where he was heading when it bounced, it was probably better that he hit the wingtip and cartwheeled. He was close to parked jets and just beyond that, the crowd line.

evan....I wasnt criticising the guy, with a dead engine he did well to get it down, I just thought it wouldnt have bounced up with the wheels retracted. I presume you need engine power to bring the wheels up anyway?

vikingBerserker · Sep 21, 2010

Dam, I would have cried if I wrecked that. Glad he's ok!

FLYBOYJ · Sep 21, 2010

I was about 200 feet away from the crash. I didn't see it as I was under my plane. I heard everyone yell and scream and saw a big cloud of dust when I got up to see what was happening. The pilot actually made it to the banquet and received his participation trophy!

Taken from my cell phone.

Aaron Brooks Wolters · Sep 21, 2010

Very glad Mr. Giboney is ok.

mikewint · Sep 22, 2010

non-pilot asking questions - i've watched the video several times and it looks to me like he came in perpendicular to the runway and hit the edge berm which bounced him into the air. i can also see that the prop is not turning so i understand no power, i.e. "dead stick" was he lined up properly with the runway or did he just bring it down with few options as to where

Colin1 · Sep 22, 2010

mikewint said:
non-pilot asking questions - i've watched the video several times and it looks to me like he came in perpendicular to the runway and hit the edge berm which bounced him into the air. i can also see that the prop is not turning so i understand no power, i.e. "dead stick" was he lined up properly with the runway or did he just bring it down with few options as to where

I'm not a pilot either Mike
but if he was dead-stick and conditions were very gusty, he may well have been as lined up as it was possible for him to be

Kit Mustang goes for a tumble at Reno

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