Thunderbird crash at Dayton Vectron Airshow?

Another link I saw said they had landed and were taxiing in when the aircraft overturned. Maybe a combination of a turn too fast with a wind gust. I know the F-16 is a little tippy on its narrow gear.
 
Well, they've got tstorms all over the area. You can see it's pouring in the pic. Doesn't look like it's demo related though. #7 with 2 pilots and centerline tank.
 
Velocity173 said:
Well, they've got tstorms all over the area. You can see it's pouring in the pic. Doesn't look like it's demo related though. #7 with 2 pilots and centerline tank.
Click to expand...
Was it 7 or 8 that went down? I started to listen to live atc and #8 was in a hold waiting for weather to clear and low on fuel.
 
Criitter7 said:
Was it 7 or 8 that went down? I started to listen to live atc and #8 was in a hold waiting for weather to clear and low on fuel.
Click to expand...

It very well might be 8. I was just using 7 as an example of a 2 seater.

Only time I've seen them use the 2 seater with a belly tank for practice shows is to shadow the formation. I believe it's for new pilot orientation or PR stuff. I'm not sure if this is practice show related though.
 
Last edited:
From the article:

Dayton Daily News photographer Ty Greenlees is on the scene. He reports photographer Ricardo von Puttkammer told him he saw the two-seat Thunderbird land and taxi toward the staging area when it appeared that a gust of wind flipped the F-16 on its top.

Von Puttkammer is chief correspondent for Aviation Photojournal in New York City.
 
I drove from Dayton to Chicago today and passed thru some real toad stranglers on the way. Remnants of Cindy.

Must have been a helluva gust.

Weather's forecast great for tomorrow and Sunday.

Cheers
 
Dayton Daily News photographer Ty Greenlees is on the scene. He reports photographer Ricardo von Puttkammer told him he saw the two-seat Thunderbird land and taxi toward the staging area when it appeared that a gust of wind flipped the F-16 on its top.
I
If he had been a civilian he would have been charged with a pilot error for failing to keep the aircraft under control :)
 
pmanton said:
Dayton Daily News photographer Ty Greenlees is on the scene. He reports photographer Ricardo von Puttkammer told him he saw the two-seat Thunderbird land and taxi toward the staging area when it appeared that a gust of wind flipped the F-16 on its top.
I
If he had been a civilian he would have been charged with a pilot error for failing to keep the aircraft under control :)
Click to expand...

Same goes for a military pilot.
 
Thunderbirds Saturday show has been cancelled.
Boo....
 
Looks like they were still getting the plane off its back when we landed just after midnight. They had work lights and several large trucks around the site. Didn't get a better look.
 
I didn't see it happen, but while it was extremely rainy (dropping vis below one mile), it wasn't very gusty at all. I don't know that we broke 20kt all afternoon.
 
When I flew my 46 J-3 Piper Cub in the 2012 Dayton Air show just before the Blue Angels flew, I asked the air boss for permission to takeoff on a closed runway that was more aligned with the wind. He stated that I could as long as I didn’t hit the spare F-18 parked along that runway. I hate gusty winds when flying the Cub on pavement plus that was my first opportunity to fly in a show. What a thrill!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top