Video: air race runway collision

EDIT: I originally put this in Bud's "aircraft loses control" thread, which was inconsiderate fo me; I've moved it out here on itw own.

Not wanting to upstage a great piece of comedy, but I'll go ahead and offer this more dramatic bit of footage:

Summary:

Aerobatic planes were supposed to take off in tightly spaced groups of three to participate in an air race. One pilot has engine trouble before even starting his takeoff roll, and he immediately raises his canopy to signal the other aircraft around him. Unfortunately the pilot behind him (in the next group of three) doesn't notice, and begins his takeoff roll. A ground collision ensues, and the first pilot (the one with engine trouble) is lucky to escape with just a broken bone or two in his hand.

The guy who hit him must be a blind moron. Once the tail came up he should have seen the plane sitting still on the runway.

The guy who hit him must be a blind moron. Once the tail came up he should have seen the plane sitting still on the runway.

I stopped/started my way through the video, and it looks like the tail didnt' come up until he was almost on top of the guy. This is more apparent if you look at the planes to the left or right.

But after the collision, there was mention of runway workers holding up flags as soon as the saw this guy's canopy guy up, so apparently they were all aware beforehand of the visibility limitation of a taildragger, and had some sort of system in place.

So I guess we're back to the guy in the rear being a moron for not paying attention to agreed-upon signals.

Mitch, anyone about to start a takeoff roll in a tail dragger would normally use a bit of rudder so they could see down the runway before building up speed.

A side shoot from your link. The old saying "speed is life" comes into play here big time. This pilot uses his airspeed to gain altitude after an engine failure giving him time to line up the runway.

It kind of links back to the original as to "when things go to _hit"! Cool view, Cool pilot!

Pat

Looks like he intended to take off in 3 point versus tail up. Based on his speed he should have been able to bring the tail up much quicker and as Marty says, gives you visibility. I never do 3 point take offs or three point landings...Wheelies only for me. Better visibility, better control.

Summary:

Aerobatic planes were supposed to take off in tightly spaced groups of three to participate in an air race. One pilot has engine trouble before even starting his takeoff roll, and he immediately raises his canopy to signal the other aircraft around him.

 

 

Unfortunately the pilot behind him (in the next group of three) doesn't notice, and begins his takeoff roll. A ground collision ensues, and the first pilot (the one with engine trouble) is lucky to escape with just a broken bone or two in his hand.

I wasn't there & only know of this incident from the video provided but my thoughts are.....

At the 02sec. mark, the pilot quickly looks right/left perhaps as the two other planes start to roll.

02-17sec., The pilot assesses his situation & after shutting down the engine, opens his canopy & starts signaling.

If this is correct, the other two planes have vacated the starting point for 15sec.

18sec., the planes to the rear have started to roll.

24.xx sec. the pilot senses the other plane(s) (Note the wrinkles on his forehead) but apparently didn't anticipate &/or take action for what was to transpire.

27.xx sec. Impact 10 sec. after raising of canopy.

The person that dropped (&/or ordered the green flag to be dropped) bares the greatest blame but it's shared by all involved.

In my opinion, there should be a red & green flag in front of, & a red flag in back of every row of planes with the exception of the last row which would not need a red flag behind.

Before each row receives its raised green flag, pre existing raised red flags would have to drop.

Before raised red flags could drop, no obstacles/reasons to interrupt the race would exist.

Of course that would double the number of officials needed & proportionally raise the human error opertunities.

As this start is 3 wide, I would think the pilots greatest responsibility is too not hit the plane(s) to the side rather then worry about the "Cleared" runway to the front.

Eric, your last sentence is wrong. Every pilot should do both, it really isn't that difficult.

Here's the view from the other plane.

Excuse my naiveté, but are these planes not equipped with those things called radios?

I don't know anything about airplanes, but it seems obvious to me that there should be someone on the ground with a red/green light that is visible to all pilots waiting to take off. It should stay on red until the person on the ground sees that the flight ahead is safely in the air, at which time he would flash a green indicating that the next flight could start their takeoff roll.

I don't know anything about airplanes, but it seems obvious to me that there should be someone on the ground with a red/green light that is visible to all pilots waiting to take off. It should stay on red until the person on the ground sees that the flight ahead is safely in the air, at which time he would flash a green indicating that the next flight could start their takeoff roll.

Except the problem here is they were doing a formation takeoff. But yes, either way there was a communications failure. The lead pilot that got hit posted about his experience on a couple of aviation forums.