Good video on flying the P-38

[RicOShay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3nddCJbcdI&feature=watch-vrecu

Unfortunately Jeff was killed while flying a P-38 back in 1997.

In WWII my father got a ride in a "glass nose" P-38 in Italy and was used for recon missions. He said you had to lie on your stomach and the ultra low level high speed ride was one of the biggest thrills of his life.

Or if your not made nervious by confined spaces there was the manned wing tank version. I kid you not----------------now that would be one wild bellybutton ride.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/web/ddd/gallery/dddportraits/444.html

[bortas1]

  that was really neat

[JimmyD3]

Awesome video!

[Owlblink]

Thank you, that was awesome

I am very excited for the gentleman in the video getting to finally pilot the plane that got his father through the war, if anyone deserved to fly a 38 it was him

[RicOShay]

Sadly Jeff was killed flying a P-38 up in Oregon in 1997. Even more sad was that his father was present and saw the accident. Seems that on final approach Jeff let the P-38 fall below minimum flying speed when he lost an engine at low altiude where he could not recover.

http://www.avweb.com/news/safety/183014-1.html

My father in WWII was on a crash crew at an american/british air base in Italy and observed several fatal P-38 crashes. Two were engine failures on takeoff which immediately snapped rolled the planes into the ground. The third was in a mock dogfight between a P-38 and a spitfire when the lightning failed to pull out of a high speed dive. The other was a P-38 taking off with the door open (a real no no) which disturbed the air flow over the elevators causing the plane to mush into the ground.

[Puma44]

..engine loss due to fuel starvation.

"Probable Cause

Failure of the pilot to maintain minimum control speed (VMC), after loss of power in one engine, which resulted in a loss of aircraft control and collision with terrain. Related factors were: the pilot's improper fuel management and failure to change the fuel selector position before a fuel tank had emptied, which led to fuel starvation and loss of power in one engine; and the pilot's lack of familiarity with the aircraft, relative to single-engine minimum airspeeds."

http://www.avweb.com/news/safety/183014-1.html

[B4Buster]

That's what happens when you go below minimum speed for single engine in a twin with no altitude to spare.

edit: forgetting the fuel selector can be easy to do. I did it myself once while on my solo cross-country - I didn't run out of fuel but was close. It proves that checklists are important, no matter the aircraft.

[Puma44]

1. Maintain aircraft control
2. Analyze the situation
3. Take the proper action
4. Maintain situational awareness

I am very excited for the gentleman in the video getting to finally pilot the plane that got his father through the war, if anyone deserved to fly a 38 it was him

Tragically sad that he augered in while his Dad watched.  Because of the probable cause, there is a family tragedy and one less P-38 flying. 

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

The aircraft Jeff died in was heavily modified at the request of the owner, Bruce Pruett. The Prestone radiators had been replaced (no notation about the CG change was made) and the entire fuel system was modified, including the fuel selection switches, which were pinned. According to people who would know, the fire may have started pre-crash, not post crash, and the fuel selector switches may actually have just been in the position where Jeff left them when he stopped trying to get fuel to the engine and started trying to recover the aircraft. It was apparently his first or second flight in that plane, he had flown the other P-38, which had the original radiators and fuel system.

No doubt, Jeff was at fault, for allowing himself to end up in that position. However, it should be understood that he was in a modified aircraft, in a dangerous situation, with very little seat time in that particular aircraft.

The whole thing is a damned shame, Jeff was a good guy, both he and the plane were irreplaceable.

[Bodhi]

CVH,
That info on the radiators was not deemed a contributing factor to the crash.  Further, I believe the changes to the fuel system were not owing to Mr. Pruett's desire to "change" the system more than the restorer's attempt to see it fly at a reasonable cost.  I know all involved except Jeff, but it is what it is and I can assign no blame to Bruce or the restorer.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Is Pruett still suing? At one time, Erickson was claiming that Pruett told him to change the fuel system, despite Erickson's advice to the contrary. Pruett at one time claimed the crash was at least partially, if not mostly, Erickson's fault. I was told by a couple of people that there was evidence of a fire in the cockpit before the plane hit anything.

[Bodhi]

I have never seen evidence of a fire in the cockpit, but I have heard several other things including that Jeff broke the fuel selector in his panic and a couple of others surrounding issues with him simply overlooking the fuel selector in his checklist.  No one but Jeff knows about the latter and I have never been told anything or read anything that indicates that the selector was broken in that manner. 

What I do think is that Jeff got too slow in his attempts to restart the failed engine and when he hit the ground he had almost zero horizontal speed.  In fact it was so slow that a tree went through the aircraft vertically and with almost zero horizontal damage.

The last time I talked to Mr. Pruett about it, he mentioned nothing of him suing, but rather being sued.  It was very heart breaking for him and his wife.  Not only was Jeff killed, but they lost their dream aircraft as well.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

The report does mention that there were pins installed in the fuel tank selectors to prevent the selection of a fuel tank that was no longer in the system. It also mentions the tree, through the right wing, or maybe the left, that there was evidence the plane only slid about 2 feet on impact, and was that it was rotating. It also mentions a "post crash fire" that damaged the center fuselage. The determination on the engine starvation was that he did not switch tanks and ran it dry. I did hear that the pins may have been bent, and the selectors were possibly just in what ever position they were in when Jeff stopped looking for fuel, or trying to stop a leak, and went back to trying to fly the plane, albeit too late. You are correct, only Jeff knows, and he is not here to say.

It may well be that Pruett was sued (by Jeff's family possibly?) and forced to counter sue, or something of that nature.

[Bodhi]

It used to be common practice in warbirds to stake fuel selectors to assist in minimizing rework when removing certain fuel selector options.  I have never done it, but I have seen it in several aircraft.

As for the post crash fire, my understanding was that the center section was substantially burned after impact.  I believe that was the only fire to happen, I had never heard of one occurring in flight or before impact on that flight.