I think the trim tab played only a peripheral role in this accident. Despite what Widewings friend said the nose isnt trimmed down that much and the pilot in this case was certainly trained to handle events like that. However...
Chalenge, you don't think so? How about asking a guy with over 2,000 hours in P-51s, racing and airshows? I did... At speeds above 400 mph, a P-51's stick forces often require in excess of 100 lbs just to keep the nose level. A pilot cannot sustain that. Thus, he trims the elevators down to eliminate much of the force. However, trim changes with airspeed, and racing pilot will adjust trim as required. At very high speeds, should a trim tab fail, the surface holding trim is at least halved. Thus, the aircraft will immediately pitch up. A member of Leeward's ground crew reportedly stated that real-time telemetry indicated 10.4g peak loading. Not only is that more than enough to GLOC any pilot, but the extremely rapid onset of G virtually guarantees that Leeward was out within a second or two.
Bob Hannah could tell you how violent the pitch up is....
"About 5 seconds after Voodoo pitched up suddenly, Steve Hinton radioed Hannah, "You OK Bob?" "Yeah, this thing just popped big time", replied Hannah. What Hannah didn't mention is that the g-load from the quick pull-up had caused him to black out. He finally managed to reach the throttle and reduced Voodoo's power. At that point Hannah radioed that he "wasn't out of it yet," and that he wasn't thinking clearly. Later, he declared a mayday and made a perfect landing. . . . On the ground one could see what cause Voodoo's problems during the race. The left elevator torque tube failed when the elevator trim fluttered and departed the plane."
Bob Hannah was 41 years old and in excellent physical shape. Still, it took him a while to recover from the rapid onset of high g. Now, Leeward was 74 years old, with the reduced blood flow that follows all aging. He didn't have enough time to recover from the GLOC.
Pretty open and shut..... I'm very confident that this will be the finding of the NTSB investigation, especially since they now have the onboard data logger card, and that of the crew.
Has anyone seen the most recent video released? Jesus, Mary and Joseph... The guy who shot the video was barely 75 yards from the impact.
Here's a link to an NBC report with the video...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44586193#44586193
