Bad Crash Dayton Airshow

[Puma44]

It appears to be wing drop at the beginning of a stall.  In real world flying, most aircraft will wing drop one way or the other, depending on several factors.  At that low altitude, it would seem unlikely that the pilot would try to roll up right without sufficient airspeed.   It appears that the airspeed was too low as he rolled inverted or it decayed while inverted.  At that point the pilot was in a square corner with no options.  Airspeed decay, stall, wing drop, oh .......!  

This was very gut wrenching to watch.  In no way judging the pilot or his thought process, just an observation of what appeared to transpire.  

[Sol75]

It appears to be wing drop at the beginning of a stall.  In real world flying, most aircraft will wing drop one way or the other, depending on several factors.  At that low altitude, it would seem unlikely that the pilot would try to roll up right without sufficient airspeed.   It appears that the airspeed was too low as he rolled inverted or it decayed while inverted.  At that point the pilot was in a square corner with no options.  Airspeed decay, stall, wing drop, oh .......!  

This was very gut wrenching to watch.  In no way judging the pilot or his thought process, just an observation of what appeared to transpire.  

Precisely what I was saying.

[Puma44]

Precisely what I was saying.

While I was typing in response to DH's question you obviously posted in the interim.  Must have been horrific to see and hear it happen in person.  After looking at the video again, there's quite a bit of yaw during the roll to inverted, possible indicating low airspeed and definitely contributing to airspeed decay.

[LCADolby]

How's that?

Looked cloudy, for me that looked like turbulent air.

[Puma44]

Looked cloudy, for me that looked like turbulent air.

Cloudy doesn't necessarily mean turbulent air.  Turbulent air is not necessarily a show stopper unless it's accompanied by strong winds that are beyond the crosswind limits of the participating aircraft.  

[Sol75]

Cloudy doesn't necessarily mean turbulent air.  Turbulent air is not necessarily a show stopper unless it's accompanied by strong winds that are beyond the crosswind limits of the participating aircraft.  

Weather was not a factor.  While there were a few pop up showers in the area, the wind was relatively light, and very steady.  That was not weather induced.  That was a stall.

[Zacherof]

Anyone else see the smoke pop out of the engine???

[Puma44]

it looked to me like the plane was veering towards the stands.
rather than risk the audience for a chance at correction/survival,
the pilot chose to just put it down.

heart wrenching. 

More than likely the pilot had no choice or control of where the aircraft was going after the inverted stall occurred.

[Sol75]

Anyone else see the smoke pop out of the engine???

Are you asking if anyone other than me saw it?  I saw it... Don't know if it had anything to do with it, but there was a puff of smoke.  Brief, and subtle, but it was there.  Ill grab a video from youtube and try to run it through sony vegas to highlight what im talking about when I say what I saw (smoke, aileron inputs, etc) if you folks would like me to.

[Zacherof]

Are you asking if anyone other than me saw it?  I saw it... Don't know if it had anything to do with it, but there was a puff of smoke.  Brief, and subtle, but it was there.  Ill grab a video from youtube and try to run it through sony vegas to highlight what im talking about when I say what I saw (smoke, aileron inputs, etc) if you folks would like me to.

would be easier to point out if slowed down.

But man that sucks. Least they went out doing what they love

[Sol75]

im kinda hoping a higher resolution video gets posted, im curious to see the control surface movements on the elevator and rudder as well.

[Puma44]

The puff of smoke could been a normal result of power change by the pilot.  It doesn't appear to be an indication of engine trouble based on the sound of the engine as it impacted the ground.  Hard to say though.  No doubt the pilot would not have rolled inverted if he had an indication of an engine problem.

Anyone here have current time in the same aircraft and/or similar round engines?  

[Puma44]

Disregard, double post.

[Sol75]

No, but remember, there is quite a bit of lag between when a sound occurs in an airplane at an airshow, and when the sound reaches the audience.  (this is very obvious while at a show, as a plane will pass by and then you hear it, etc etc)  So, it is quite possible, we heard the engine issue after we saw the plane impact, which would appear that the engine died on impact, but if you think about it, the engine noise would have continued (to our ears) for some time after seeing the impact (due to the difference in sound speed, and light speed).  The most bizzare thing to me was the near complete lack of the expected thud, or crash noise.  YOu never heard the impact.

[Puma44]

Are you trying argue just for the sake of arguing?  The impact is obvious.  There is sound and yes there is sometimes lag of sound at air shows.  Where you standing at the same relative position of the video recorder or at a different angle?