Higher is safer ... tragic aerobatic outcome

Daleandee

Daleandee

Final Approach
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Dale Andee
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I think you meant wasn’t far enough below
 
The great majority of aerobatic fatalities are due to insufficient altitude. Either too low to complete a maneuver, or too low to recover from a botched maneuver.

It is amazing how many wannabe airshow pilots there are out there. But talk to real airshow pilots and they will explain how aerobatic maneuvers are modified at low level to provide a buffer.

With this accident, add probable visual illusion due to the calm water.
 
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I’ve been to two air shows where I’ve seen pilots get obviously lower than planned…one moved trees with her wingtip vortices and exited her routine. The other bounced on the runway at the bottom of a loop.

Margins go away fast.
 
N-registered acro EAB... in Mallorca, España? I'm doing life wrong, username checks. :biggrin:

I don't do zero-floor aerobatics with my pedestrian loved ones though, so I got that going for me I guess.
 
Daleandee said:
This was posted on VAF. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/532037

Here's some video of the flight but doesn't show the crash: https://media.gsstatic.es/3418153.mp4

Seems like they were having a great deal of fun in the airplane but the ground wasn't far enough below them. The saddest part of it all ... "The pilot and his thirteen years old son perished and the aircraft was destroyed."

:(
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I thought they were going to crash in both maneuvers in that video. Fun moves to try in a flight simulator.. Not so much in real life without the reset button.
 
barney said:
I thought they were going to crash in both maneuvers in that video. Fun moves to try in a flight simulator.. Not so much in real life without the reset button.
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Altitude is your friend ...
 
Aviation has some facets which are not forgiving. Low level aerobatics is one example of this. I'm all for the freedom to make our own choices but I just don't understand what drives people to take the risk this involves.

I have a friend who I've known for a few decades. Her daughter was getting married. Both families were in town for the wedding. The day before the wedding, her husband took the groom up in his SNJ to have some fun. They were doing low level aerobatics over the water just adjacent the beach. They didn't pull out of a loop and ended up in the water. Both her husband and the groom died the day before his wedding.
 
I read somewhere that controlled airspace over that area starts at 1000 AGL.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I read somewhere that controlled airspace over that area starts at 1000 AGL.
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What kind of controlled airspace?
Class E, not a bit deal. C or D a bigger deal, but doable with talking to the controlling agency. One IAC practice acro box nearby has Class C at about 1000 AGL.
 
MauleSkinner said:
I’ve been to two air shows where I’ve seen pilots get obviously lower than planned…one moved trees with her wingtip vortices and exited her routine. The other bounced on the runway at the bottom of a loop.

Margins go away fast.
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Yes they do.

I was at the show where this video was shot. I might have even been right next to whoever filmed this, I remember being very close to that fence. I was with a friend of mine, former Air Force and airline captain. He’d seen enough fatalities that he simply closed his eyes and looked straight down.

That day had been rainy and overcast and the airshow was delayed a while. Clg lifted enough for the show to start, but in addition to the lower limit, there was now an upper limit. I remember watching this flight and getting the feeling he was losing energy with each maneuver. He did something, maybe a Lomcevak, and ended up in an attitude where there simply wasn’t enough altitude to recover. People around us were still excited about what they were watching, but my buddy and I both knew what was about to happen.

 
Pinecone said:
What kind of controlled airspace?
Class E, not a bit deal. C or D a bigger deal, but doable with talking to the controlling agency. One IAC practice acro box nearby has Class C at about 1000 AGL.
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It's in Spain, so I dunno. Read somewhere it was "class A" above 1000 MSL, but no idea what that equates to here. The commenter said no VFR above that. Random Internet comment so could be total BS
 
I owned a Citabria with a friend that we rented out.

54720377979_f8def9623d_z.jpg


It was destroyed with two fatalities.

11803733445_3a2a47e40b_z.jpg


Sad. Lots of links in that chain: over gross, low altitude, no chutes, not checked out for aerobatics.

Aerobatics can be a lot of fun, but can be very unforgiving.
 
The IAC does a good job coaching pilots on the importance of altitude. Each level of competition has a hard floor. For Sportsman it is 1500 AGL. Intermediate is 1000. Advanced is 500. Break the floor and you get a zero for the flight. Do it twice and you might get asked to leave. Measuring is by calibrated eyeball, so most pilots give it a buffer.

For a long time there had never been a fatality in IAC competition. I believe that is no longer the case; AFAIK there has been one fatality in a contest. Still a remarkable safety record given there are dozens of contests a year with several dozen pilots flying in each.

Two IAC friends of mine died trying to become airshow pilots. In both cases too much airplane, too low, too soon.
 
Ed Haywood said:
The IAC does a good job coaching pilots on the importance of altitude. Each level of competition has a hard floor. For Sportsman it is 1500 AGL. Intermediate is 1000. Advanced is 500. Break the floor and you get a zero for the flight. Do it twice and you might get asked to leave. Measuring is by calibrated eyeball, so most pilots give it a buffer.

For a long time there had never been a fatality in IAC competition. I believe that is no longer the case; AFAIK there has been one fatality in a contest. Still a remarkable safety record given there are dozens of contests a year with several dozen pilots flying in each.

Two IAC friends of mine died trying to become airshow pilots. In both cases too much airplane, too low, too soon.
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I am friends with quite a few active airshow pilots, and even in their world there has been a change in perception. They have come to realize the juice isn't worth the squeeze, that the average airshow spectator can't tell the difference between an inside and outside loop, so why put your life on the line for them. In some cases it is just a minor change to the routine to make it safer. In others it has been abandoning certain maneuvers all together. Nearly every airshow performer has lost a friend of family member due to crashes, and there has been a lot of improvement to try to mitigate the risk as much as can be done for the type of flying that they are doing.
 
FORANE said:
Aviation has some facets which are not forgiving. Low level aerobatics is one example of this. I'm all for the freedom to make our own choices but I just don't understand what drives people to take the risk this involves.

I have a friend who I've known for a few decades. Her daughter was getting married. Both families were in town for the wedding. The day before the wedding, her husband took the groom up in his SNJ to have some fun. They were doing low level aerobatics over the water just adjacent the beach. They didn't pull out of a loop and ended up in the water. Both her husband and the groom died the day before his wedding.
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Absolutely tragic. Hard to imagine grieving multiple deaths at once, especially on the eve of such a momentous event in life.
 
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