C-Brat Safe at Reno

D

Dreamer

New member
You may remember that our friend George Hone (ghone) was traveling from Nanaimo to the Reno Air Races. After hearing about the horrific crash there today, I texted him. I just received a text that he is fine but shaken after witnessing a straight in crash near the grandstand. Lots of injured, many serious.

Grateful for George's safety and praying for those affected.
 
holy s**t! Just saw this on cbc news then googled the video. Thought about George. Glad he is OK. Hope the best for the injured.
 
I also saw this on the news and immediately checked C-Brats to see if George had logged in regarding this. Glad to hear that he is fine. Prayers out to all those affected by this tragedy!
 
We also immediately thought about George being at the Reno air races. Glad he is safe. Regret the loss of life and injuries . We will hear his stories at the Lake Powell gathering.

Brent
 
I have been sort of out of it today, working on boating stuff, and had not heard any news. Sure glad George is OK. Tuff to be in that kind of a position, but better shaken than a statistic. Prayers for all concerned.

George, Somebody was looking out for you today :thup

BTW, that link to u tube goes nowhere -- video has been removed.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
In the still image showing the canopy from the side, there is no sign of the pilot. May well be he's slumped over. 80 Years old is mighty old for the g-forces they experience in that race at those speeds with those turning radius'.

Sad day for the lovers of that sport. I'm among those who never make it to Reno, but love to see the TV coverage of the races.
 
There is a photo of the trim tab on the elevator tearing away just before the crash... At 400 mph this makes the airplane completely uncontrollable..
I had planned on being at Reno until just a couple of weeks ago when I bought a farm and became too busy to travel...
 
Thanks Roger for the post and thanks for the concern my friends. My buddy and Iwere at the other end of the grandstands maybe 800 feet from impact and there was some debris made it to within a couple hundred feet of us. The ship disintegrated on impact with no fire. We thought at first someone maydayed on the front strait and was going upstairs as "altitude is your friend" when something goes wrong. Then it rolled inverted and pitched down. Control surface failure is the first thought. Could have been medical too early to say. In some stills this morning, you can see the tailwheel extended and maybe the mains starting out, which is odd, they don't get the gear down till the runway is for sure made to guard airspeed. From our seats on the tarmak, it looked much worse we thought he went in the front area of the grandstands or the pits. It was a very bad situation and one of our worst nightmares of possibilities. The P51 is a large very fast machine. Jimmy Leeward may have been 80 but was very fit and experienced. For fans of the sport we understand it is high risk but I think this is the first accident in their history here involving spectators. My buddy and I are fine, and will stay in Reno till he flies out Monday and I continue to Lake Powell. The investigation here will take some time to see if they can find out what went wrong. Though there were casualties, we can be thankful there weren't hundreds of casualties. Thanks for the concern folks and I'm just fine, will be enroute to Powell and some boating. George
 
Levitation":2oht9kfq said:
There is a photo of the trim tab on the elevator tearing away just before the crash... At 400 mph this makes the airplane completely uncontrollable..
I had planned on being at Reno until just a couple of weeks ago when I bought a farm and became too busy to travel...
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George, glad you and friend are OK. And Dr. Denny, glad you "bought A farm", in the wrong place, you could have ""bought THE farm".

I always wanted go to Reno for one of these or to the Fly In in Wisconsin or wherever that's held each year.

Charlie
 
George good to hear that you and your friend are "OK". Just witnessing this type of crash is trauma in itself. I also wondered about the photo where you could not see the pilot thru the canopy. (We see the Blues pilots clearly when they fly over our house at about 500 feet every Tuesday). I wondered if that was a stock photo, since none of the video showed the plane going straight into the ground. I had also wondered about the tail wheel being out--if that was "normal". I have a couple of friends who are experts on these old "warbirds" and it will be interesting to get their take. Certainly a failure of a control surface would be catastrophic. Tragedy--but glad that not more were killed or injured.

From what I hear, the 80 year old age is incorrect, the pilot was 74. I agree with Charlie, both the Reno Air races and Oshkosh fly in are sort of on my bucket list.
 
This is on pretty non stop on local news and many video and photo info coming forward. It is too early for any real idea as to what happened if ever as there is nothing much left of the aircraft. The tailwheel being out is definately not normal as so many mods are done to clean up airflow the wouldn't leave the wheel out. On takeoff you can see the gear fold away and the tailwheel snaps up first as soon as they have positve rate. The main reason we have been told for the quick gear retraction is that if the engine coughs or quits on takeoff the procedure is to level up and put it wheels up into the scrub. This happened this week in trials. the pilot walked away from that one. Mr Leeward had flown for 60 years and raced out here for a long time. The emergency responders did an awesome job, with a bunch of fire police and ambulance and military all implementing the safety and recovery procedures. The crowd left the area in a very organized and calm manner. My buddy and I have been coming here for 20 years almost annually and we've seen several accidents on the course but this is the worst in the history and the first involving fans. It may spell the end of racing as we know it, but who's to say. Our hearts and prayers go out to Jimmy's family and friends and all those involved in the stands. It was a bad thing to see. I am looking forward to being on Lake Powell next week with my c brat family and friends. George
 
My folks are involved with the Cascade War Birds here in Washington. The CWB have a box seat at the Reno races every year. This wreck was very close to that box seat. My parents were invited to go but had to work this week and could not go. They are still trying to get hold of a few people that they know where there. The CWB's web site is not releasing names yet but have stated that their is bad news coming. They may have lost members. Just glad the folks were working and dad has to much of a work ethic to skip out to the races. My hearts goes out to the families of the fallen. my family has at least 3 pilots so its a worry that I have learned to live with.

My folks took me to the show a few times in the late 70's. As a kid I loved the fighters screaming in over the stands. There is nothing like it.
 
starcrafttom":q7i4x7yz said:
I just got the news from my mother. Two friends from washington were killed in the crash. My heart goes out to thier families
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Condolences Tom, to you, your Mom and the families involved. Life is short, we don't need things to make it any shorter!! :love

Charlie
 
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