quote:

Originally posted by M1Garandy:

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
Did I miss the name on the B-17?

Texas Raiders.

Thank you, sir!

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ChicagoSigMan, thanks for posting about the possible drone strike. I have not seen this informaiton...

In addition to my questions about separation, did a drone strike caused damage to the P-63 or was it the pilot trying to avoid the drone that placed the P-63 in the flight path of the B-17?

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You can see a possible collision between the King and some kind of aerial object in the slo-mo capture. Furthermore there is a pronounced flight-path deviation directly following contact, and a possible engine restart attempt.

Noting that the video has not been verified in an official manner as of yet. If it is a hoax, it's a thought-out one as the trajectory of the mystery object is consistent with a propeller strike, i.e. sharply upward, then down.



Can someone tell me what PM means, if not "Pilot Monitoring"?

I don't buy the drone strike (IF that is what this was) causing the engine to quit. As stated, the engine is BEHIND the cockpit, driving the prop through a long shaft under the pilot's seat. Also, if the engine quit, there would be some change in sound that somebody would have picked up on by now.

PERHAPS it hit something that caused severe flutter in the prop or distracted the pilot momentarily (and a single second is an eternity in such a situation), but I don't see how that could have caused him to deviate his flight path into the B-17.

Flying a drone in such an area is not only illegal but dangerously stupid. I feel quite certain that folks on the ground would have spotted such earlier and raised a huge flag. Now a bird is quite another matter. But still, such causing an issue with the P-63 prop?

If there was a drone present, I am now wondering if it is possible that the King Cobra ingested some broken drone parts into the air intake scoop aft of the canopy?

Well, I suppose its possible it hit a drone, and that may have distracted the pilot, but even if the engine quit or the prop was damaged there is no way that resulted in a loss of control or a stall in that short amount of time. It appears to happen maybe 2 seconds before to collision. Thats not enough time without power to stall let alone attempt a restart as the article suggests.

Juan Browne, Blancrlirio, has disturbing news, at least to me, that it seems that the Air Boss screwed up big big big time. The Air Boss was new to this, gave a weird briefing before the air show, and instead of following the plan he told the fighters to move to a different track. They did, but they should have asked why the variance.

As Mr Browne says, Dumb Dangerous and Different changes to the plan can be absolutely dangerously fatal.

The meat of what he says is in the last few minutes, and be sure to read the first few comments. Click here for the direct link to read more. Here to click

OKCGene, thanks for posting that. It was very informative.

It's a minor miracle that the wreckage fell down in an empty field, as the airport is literally surrounded by buildings and people.

Air Boss ordered the aircraft to cross paths, WITHOUT altitude separation. That guy will live with this mistake for the rest of his life. The P-63 was 'belly-up' to the B-17, so couldn't see the bomber. He gave the Reno Air Show example, that aircraft NEVER pass other planes on the inside, as they cannot see the aircraft on the outside. They always pass on the outside, so the passing aircraft can always judge his position relative to the aircraft he's passing.

If everything he said was true (and I have no reason to doubt it, but also no ability to tell if it really is true or not), the possible existence of a drone is pretty much irrelevant. Sure, the P-63 MIGHT have struck something, but at that point, he was already committed to his course of action and any airstrike would have had minimal, if any, effect on the ensuing events.

Heartbreaking.

This is a screen cap from Browne's video.



I'm sorry, but I think the whole drone bit is BS. Someone with too much time on their hands over analyzing about 2 second of heavily pixelated video.

The image speaks for itself.
No damage visible on the P-63.

I watched Browne's video and yeah, this sounds like a major Air Boss goof.

Whole thing is absolutely heartbreaking.

Still just unbelievable. RIP, CA Craig Hutain...

This five-minute Air Safety Institute video talks about - and questions - the air boss decision to direct the fighters to the 500 ft show line. He briefly mentions the possible drone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=celYnsIcbJk