NZFF

Jimmy Leeward was the pilot of the P-51 Mustang that crashed into the box seat area at the front of the grandstand about 4:30 p.m today.

video

That,s a no show survival , wouldnt even have time to say ...

Strange crash, theres another vid which shows the aircraft just prior, pulling up and to the right as if to break off from the course then it rolls inverted quite lazily, similar to a barrel roll, before pulling through with clearly no chance of recovery. crash vid 2

Its hard to imagine that a pilot of that calibre would have intentionally flown that maneuver so it does beg the question of control difficulty, pilot incapacitation or a botched break for an unknown reason resulting in a high speed stall from which recovery was impossible.

The way it rolls so slowly inverted makes me think there was no stall and flick though but it is hard to tell from the video. Very strange indeed.

nzav8tor wrote:

QUOTE (nzav8tor @ Sep 16 2011,3:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Its hard to imagine that a pilot of that calibre would have intentionally flown that maneuver so it does beg the question of control difficulty, pilot incapacitation or a botched break for an unknown reason resulting in a high speed stall from which recovery was impossible.

I was thinking the same thing mate, if he pulled really hard in the turn and stalled it at low altitude, there wouldnt have been enough to recover. I was just out flying and this is the first thing I saw when I came back. Very sad.

Bummer second vid has been pulled ,not any great footage to watch and being in the world of HD cams and phones etc you d think there would be more and better res ..RIP to the pilot