Author Topic: Firefly down (Read 1085 times)

Dnil · « **on:** July 12, 2003, 11:15:32 AM »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3061391.stm

Athena3 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 12, 2003, 01:07:37 PM »

Just got back from the airshow. Unfortunatly Mj and I witnessed the crash firsthand. I noticed the plane off in the distance as it was falling straight down from a high alt and pointed it out to him (it wasn't center stage at the time). We noticed the plane wobbling and the pilot was trying to slowly pull out of the dive, but it was too late, he crashed belly down from what we could see over the trees. It was awful. Not sure I want to fly again anytime soon. The people sitting behind us had dinner with the pilot and a couple others last night. Apparently this guy's wife had to be tranquilized before flying anywhere herself because she hated it so much.

Joc · « **Reply #2 on:** July 12, 2003, 01:23:26 PM »

I think sometimes many of us dont realize the dangers these men face when flying such old and rare aircraft for OUR 'entertainment'
to them,and the crew of the CAF He111 that was lost the other day,a big salute from me,their families are in my thoughts.

cpxxx · « **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2003, 01:27:30 PM »

Very unfortunate, watching the video it seemed the nose dropped during a roll and he went vertical. He managed to roll upright but too late, you could see the wings wobble as the Firefly got too slow and ran out of E, mushed straight into the ground. Tragic really. He hit a low hill, if it wasn't there he might have got away with it. You could probably duplicate the accident on AH and see how difficult it is to pull out when that happens

Don't give up on flying yet Athena, airshow flying is quite different to most other flying. I was at an airshow with a fatal crash. Two things linger in the memory. The dull crump as it hit the ground and then the silence.

It never put me off. It's all part of the game. I've lost friends to flying and six aircraft I had flown crashed later.

Dowding · « **Reply #4 on:** July 12, 2003, 02:29:09 PM »

Saw it firsthand too, but in not as much detail because, like athena says it was backstage at that point.

I caught a glimpse of it, right way up, but I knew he'd ran out of altitude. A plane on the ground then obscured my view and I just hoped it would come out the other side. Then I saw the dust cloud. There was no fire, and no noticeable sound, so I was really hoping they would get out of it alive. It was sickening really. As I saw it heading for the ground my stomach just dropped away.

It kind of took the glint off an otherwise superb day. 9 spits in the air, not a cloud in the sky and even a Yak-3 and La-9 flying.

I hope relatives of the people who died weren't watching. That would be horrific. Very sad.

PS. I hope you and mjolnir had a good day otherwise - we (my brother swoopy, my dad and I) were considering the gold pass tent but swoopy couldn't afford it. Maybe next year.

swoopy · « **Reply #5 on:** July 12, 2003, 02:41:36 PM »

Cant belive it was nice plane too:(, thoughts with families an all, heres it in all its glory this morning.

Other than the incident was a fantastic day, 9 spits in the air all at one had be in aw, pics will be posted soon in screenshots.

Fishu · « **Reply #6 on:** July 12, 2003, 04:57:19 PM »

Not again

Replicant · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2003, 05:40:17 PM »

I saw the crash on SKY News. I just hope that's the last of the crashes.... My thoughts go to the families of the pilot/crew.

Sky also showed a P38 crashing back in 1996. Jeez, it was a complete fireball, I'm just please that it was nothing like that. Seeing that made me feel really ill.

Bodhi · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2003, 06:08:24 PM »

Godspeed to her crew.

Pongo · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2003, 06:36:56 PM »

if you fly them they will crash.

udet · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2003, 07:32:21 PM »

This sucks

I'm so sorry for the 2 guys.

gatso · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2003, 07:48:37 PM »

Too many crashes this year, I hope this is the last.

Gatso

Cougar68 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 12, 2003, 10:21:12 PM »

One of the people killed was =rix== from Warbirds brother. http://agw.warbirdsiii.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22371

Cougar

hazed- · « **Reply #13 on:** July 13, 2003, 06:34:30 PM »

I went today (sunday) and it was a superb airshow with 25 warbirds flying in a single formation. Truelly a sight to see.

However i was a little concerned by the fact many aircraft actually flew over the top of the far end of the crowd (near the old hanger).It was great to see the underside of a hurricane and spitfire and a p51 directly overhead but it seemed a little irresponsible after this crash on saturday.

I was also quite suprised by some of the stunts being done. Yes the spitfire 14 was great but do we really need to see it performing loops? I really had a hard think about this and i have to say i came to the conclusion that no, I didnt need to see loops and stalls etc. I wanted to see one fly by me and to hear those lovely engines. I was really worried for the B17 they flew as that even performed a few rather sharp turns which seemed totally unecessary. Why do they risk these (sometimes SOLE examples) old planes in such a way?

If we had 2 B17s in this country flying them by all means risk it a little for crowd excitement but please not when its the last one flying!. The recent loss of the sole flying example of a he-111 is a tragic loss of a peice of history.

btw I DO love to watch the stunts but I think its selfish to demand these planes perform such stressfull maneuvers.Why not treat them with kid gloves and just fly-by? surely the risk of a loss is far less that way.
If its owned by a private individual and its not the last example of its type then Im fine with whatever they do but when they crash and for the REST OF TIME no one will ever see one again I think its a crime to risk them. really!

SFRT - Frenchy · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2003, 06:54:08 PM »

I don't really agree Hazed.

If they just flew the planes staright and level, the initial "Wooow" would be gone fairly quick. I'm a real life pilot, so maybe I have a different view. I judge the airplanes at an airshow by "what they can do". I recall Sun&Burn 2 years ago. The Corsair stuned me. The guy was doing loops, split S and wide barrel rools over the runway at low speed and altitude. THAT really demonstrated what this plane could do, and really made me wonder "what a Zeke could do".

Airshows are display, it "destroys" misconceptions. I always immagined Lancasters or B17s as fat slow dogs. In Florida, the B17 pilot got a bit fancy and made stuff that I would not have imagined. Next time I meet a WW2 vet that tells me he did a hammer head in a B17, I may actually believe him hehehe:D

Or like the F86 at Chino. It's a jet, ok but how fast is a jet? Chino this year, the speed was restricted to 300 kts or mph (don't remeber). Ok, you see a jet flying by level making noise. I recall a Mig15 at Titusville, the guy came in full bore and shooted straight up above the crowd till he was only a lil dot up there. Well, THAT gave me an idea of what "jet power" was, and how it could have been such a change for WW2 prop pilots.

Plus ... if I own a P47, it could be the last flyable, but when I fly this sucker once a year, you bet I want to have fun hihihi:D

Hazed, you must be (no offense) one of those who have tears in their eyes at "Monterey Classic Racing" (I think it's Monterey) where all those rare antique race cars go at it on a track every year! Sure it brakes my heart when the guy crashes his "only 3 made Ferrari special 1966" into a "$800K Jaguar XXJ00-01", but it'
s quite a sight to relive history and compare the perfs.