Originally posted by Dago
It would have been preferrable if Ethell had not destroyed an aircraft that he was not legal to fly, and one he had not bothered to learn the systems operations on. Fuel management means learning how an aircrafts specific fuel system works, and then making damn sure you keep the engines running by not running a tank dry when flying low and slow.
dago
I'm sure Ethell would have preferred not to crash a P-38 and die in the process. Suggest you read my post above. While Ethell was not at all without fault in the crash, it was also very likely caused by one or more failures in the plane related to its modified fuel system. Ethell was familiar with the fuel system of the P-38, but the plane he was flying (this was his first hop in that plane) did not have the original P-38 fuel system.
I have both the FAA report and the synopsis of same, without pictures. What it basicly says is that Ethell failed to get himself and the plane out of a bad situation. While it blames Ethell for running the reserve tanks dry, it makes no real mention of the fact that the fuel system did not operate in the way the normal P-38 fuel system operated. It does however make note of the fact that Ethell successfully operated the other P-38 in the simulated engine out emergency situation. You have to wonder why he couldn't operate the P-38 in question as well as he did the other P-38.
More than one person who is a pilot and would know, including one who was in a serious dispute with Ethell at the time of his death says the FAA seriously botched the investigation. One mentions the fact that there was fuel present inside the cockpit resulting in the fire, and that there is good solid evidence that this was the case BEFORE the actual crash, that the fire was in progress in the cockpit in flight. He further states that evidence suggests that the fact that the tank switches were in the reserve position only because that is where Ethell stopped in his frantic search for fuel.
He also stated that Ethell was in fact not in his harness and not attached to the seat, and that the seat was not torn out of its mounts. The fact that several witnesses state clearly that the plane fell nearly straight down, and the fact that the plane made little or no forward or lateral motion after striking the ground has led more than one expert to believe that Ethell could not possibly have been thrown forward and out of the cockpit as suggested by the report. Experts say it is far more likely that Ethell was trying to escape the fire rather than being thrown from the plane. Having been on the scene of several plane crashes and noting that it is in fact very rare for passengers or pilots to be thrown free of the wreckage in far more violent crashes in civilian aicraft I'd have to agree. The military harness and seat in a P-38 is built and rated to withstand far higher G loads than civilian private aircraft. To think that it completely failed in a zero G straight down crash ejecting its occupant through a canopy (without crushing his skull I might add here) to land several feet away is rather strange. I've seen Cessnas and Pipers crash going around 100+ MPH forward and down, and never throw occupants out.
There are far more questions left unanswered by the FAA investigation than were answered by it. While there is little doubt that pilot error was a major contributing factor, there were other factors involved that were not thoroughly investigated. And never will be. Several experts on the P-38 have been questioning what really happened.
The most damning evidence is that a P-38, which was clearly salvageable, was cut into tiny pieces and sold for scrap metal at a price of a few cents a pound immediately upon the FAA releasing the wreckage. There were P-38 owners seeking parts of that aircraft that would have payed ten times what the plane brought as scrap metal for single pieces of the airframe. You have to wonder why a relatively intact plane with a salvage value in excess of $250K was cut up into small pieces and sold for less than $0.50 per pound (around $4K is the price I've heard). Word has it the Kermit Weeks and the CAF offered a lot more money than that for it. I know for a fact that four fuselages and two tails, with no engines, one prop, a few guages, one control column, a couple of seats, and less than one full set of wheels and tires brought $70K+. Read the FAA report with regards to the condition of the plane and then ask yourself why it was sold in small pieces for scrap.
