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For those ho what to read a good story on the Ghost.There is one in the January 2011 of Aeroplanemonthly .This has not been a good year at air shows and the air races.Here it is on a good day it was one great looking plane.
And that would be the case in the FAA "APPROVED" maintenance program. Sure, the general maintenance of the aircraft would be dictated by the manufacturer as applicable (certainly you're not going to do any maintenance on the armament system because more than likely it won't be there!) but in the end the FAA may add to the general requirement and ultimately APPROVE that program. In my mind they (The FAA) should share the responsibility should a maintenance action on such an aircraft turns out to be inadequate or misses something that may care a catastrophic failure.Under the definition of an experimental aircraft, air racing is listed, 21.191. Deep down this was still a Mustang. The only real change of note was the elimination of the scoop for the boil off system. Structurally the Mustang is painfully simple and strong. Yes it had clipped wings and the elevators tips were shortened but its basically a wing, engine and tail mounted to 4 longerons. That said there is no reason to expect more than the program dictated by the North American manuals 25hr, 50hr, 100hr, which would comply with 21.193 of the maintenance requirements.
First part of your comment, probably as the Mustang operators in the Unlimiteds are spending most of the year tweaking and modifying their aircraft. As far as the Tech Inspection, I was one last year in my class and I can tell you that for the most part you're only looking for the obvious and of course ensuring all the paperwork is in place.Obviously the racing Mustangs are a special case, they are subjected to a much more rigorous maintenance schedule and are constantly being looked at and tweaked, but that is by the crew, not a scheduled program mandated by the FAA. They also have to pass a Tech inspection by the powers that be at Reno and demonstrate both pilot ability and airframe integrity.
I doubt the FAA will issue an AD on an experimental aircraft over several remote incidences over the course of several years (time, money and interest). that caused little or no incident (except as noted). What should have been issued IMO was a SAIB on racing Mustangs only, and that the Mustang racing community could have induced this on their own without initial FAA intervention, but it would have been a matter of these operators to collectively recognize that they may have a problem and ensure that problem is corrected on their individual aircraft before that go race.The precedent here is the "Voodoo incident", the other known elevator trim tab departure which resulted in Bob Hannah blacking out after a 10g acceleration, fortunately he survived and the lesson learned. Should there have been an AD? probably...but how many Mustang owners go out and run up to and over 400mph? Original Mustang trim tabs were made of bakelite, I don't know what these guys are using and it was mentioned by a crew member on another board that the Ghost's left elevator trim tab was non functional and faired into the trailing edge. Several Rudder trim tabs have been lost over the years without dire consequences which lead a couple racers to eliminate it altogether. It will come out in the end, we just have to patiently wait.
Me too. Several years ago I fulfilled a life long dream and actually participated in the races as a crew chief. I agree about the scars, I still hurt over the 2007 loss of Brad Morehouse who I was supposed to work for that weekend. I've had ups and downs at Reno, I hope we all can climb out of this down.I've been following Reno since I was a little kid...I'd hate to see it end...it will be along time before the dust settles. Aside from the souls we lost there are alot of scars, both physical and mental resulting from this accident.
jim
Having returned home from Reno and reading this trash, thought I would set some things straight.Yes I am involved and all week have been working with FAA, NSTB RARA. I had worked with Jimmy on his aircraft, as an engineer for the cooling system.What I can tell you within the limits of the investigation is A) The photo's are genuine, those of you that think they are photo shopped, you were not at reno when the photographers handed over there cameria's crying because they knew what photos they had captured. B) the tail wheel, is extended because the g loading overtook the hydraulic lock pressure forcing the gear out.The mains have a mechanical lock that held up through the G's.The G loadings as quoted above spiked at 22.6g's and was substained for a few seconds at 11 g's. C) the pilot (RIP Jimmy) three events happened here, he is at high probablity unconcious due to the 22.6 g loading, even the top military pilots cannot substain this.The second event is that looking at the inverted photo you can clearly see his silver/white helmet forward in the cockpit, near the glearsheild. Under the G loading his seat harness probably broke or was unlocked (many pilots unlocked there harness so the could move better in the cockpit to see other aircraft).Finally if any of you have ever been inside the office of a P51, the control stick sits up about 8 to 10 inch above the legs, with the G loads it is possible that the Pilot may have been impaled on the stick, supporting the photos of why the controls all appear to be neutral.
[Remainder of this post has been deleted - Restorer, your post was informative, but your emotions associated with this most tragic event does not warrant a first post which insults moderators and senior forum members. We wish you well in your grieving and offer sincere condolences to those affected by this uncommon accident.]
Dude - I think you better do some research and find out about the backgrounds on some of the folks around here before you start defecating brain matter from your facial modulation orifice.
Not Probably, definitelyFLYBOYJ consistently uses inappropriate language and name calling in his posts, and he's never called on it because he is a moderator. This is unacceptable. Moderators should NEVER be allowed, much less sanctioned, to engage in rude behavior that would get a regular member banned immediately.
So in this case, in post after post, one moderator posited a patently absurd conspiracy theory, another moderator rushed to his defense with several rude and insulting posts, and finally a third moderator asked, "Why are you spending so much time trying to prove that the images are real?" The underlying question of: Why are two moderators going out of their way to libel a professional newspaper photographer having not even been even considered by any of the moderators....
Did FLYBOYJ apologize for his rude and insulting remarks? No. Do I expect that he will? No. Will I be banned for this post? Probably.
Moss
I did not know or see the rest of this post so I don't know what was said, but with that if one of the other moderators had a beef with him, so be it.I am in UK and have no connection with the USA racing scene but I Imagine it is a very close community, I suggest strongly Flyboy is consulted on this matter, his reputation in his community could be damaged.