Tragedy at Dallas air show.....

Street Glider said:
Doesn't look like any "dangerous stunt" going on.

Apparently, the P-63 has notoriously bad visibility. Some are opining that the pilot of the P-63 simply may not have seen the B-17, despite the size of the latter...
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I wouldn't call it "stunt" flying, but if you look at the video, there were a lot of aircraft in a relatively small area at low altitudes.

I would say that in itself created a more dangerous situation than otherwise would have existed if the aircraft were more spread apart and at higher altitudes.

These airshows are spectator events designed to entertain the crowds and the low altitude flying is what creates the "wow" factor.

The lives of these people and the irreplaceable vintage WWII era aircraft they were in, were sacrificed for the sake of entertainment.

That makes it kind of sadder still.
 
Street Glider said:
According to those who've actually flown the P-63, say that's not necessarily the case.

Now, frankly, I have a difficult time with the idea that a person can't see a B-17 in his flight path, but I'm also not so full of myself that I would doubt the word of someone who's actually flown one of the planes that hit it...
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Given the technology that exists today, I have to wonder why, knowing the visibility issues associated with that plane (which was reported on the news as well) there was not some kind of small camera mounted on the underside of the fuselage and connected to an LED monitor inside the cockpit.

They're on just about every late model car on the highway these days.

I bet the pilot had one or two on his vehicle.
 
Nomad said:
Given the technology that exists today, I have to wonder why, knowing the visibility issues associated with that plane (which was reported on the news as well) there was not some kind of small camera mounted on the underside of the fuselage and connected to an LED monitor inside the cockpit.

They're on just about every late model car on the highway these days.

I bet the pilot had one or two on his vehicle.
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Right exactly. You'd think they'd have cameras all over the planes, especially when it was a demonstration.
 
AProudLefty said:
Right exactly. You'd think they'd have cameras all over the planes, especially when it was a demonstration.
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I'm wondering if the pilot might possibly have had personal or psychological issues and possibly veered his plane into the B-17 intentionally.

Sounds far fetched I know, but still, it makes me wonder....
 
Geeko Sportivo said:
My dad was a huge fan of military aircraft shows. We used to go to them all when I was a kid. But a similar event in Fort Worth ended in tragedy and my whole family witnessed it and were traumatized by it. It killed some bystanders and families there watching the event. My family never attended another one. And I haven't either as an adult.

Three F15E Fighter Jets did a very low altitude Rollover/flyover over Lambeau Field just yesterday during the Dallas Cowboys football game there right in the middle of a play execution, and my thoughts were, had any one of those planes screwed up, that could have been a lot of deaths, had one crashed into the sold out stadium.

I saw no cheering or applause from the crowd, just a lot of shocked looks on everyone's faces. They look like they were scared! It was very loud.

Even the guy calling the game on TV said, "What was that"?
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How do you know they were E models? The B, D, and E are all two seat models. I worked Eagles for 12 years and I even have a hard time identifying models at altitude.

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Eagle_Eye said:
How do you know they were E models? The B, D, and E are all two seat models. I worked Eagles for 12 years and I even have a hard time identifying models at altitude.
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I am pretty uneducated to Aircraft models. I read a game review after the game, and the author mentioned the flyovers and referred to them F15E's.

When I was a kid, I had models of most WWII aircraft that I put together, and hung from my ceiling with thread. I can pretty much still identify most of the popular ones. I also had some WWI Balsa and doped motorized flyers (not RC) that My Dad and I would build and fly with a string together.

But then I was into Model Cars- Then Real Cars- Then Guitars- Then Girls- Jobs- College- Marriage- Babies- Suburbia- Divorces- lay-offs- Retirement- OLD AGE! What a boring biography huh? :laugh:
 
Geeko Sportivo said:
I am pretty uneducated to Aircraft models. I read a game review after the game, and the author mentioned the flyovers and referred to them F15E's.

When I was a kid, I had models of most WWII aircraft that I put together, and hung from my ceiling with thread. I can pretty much still identify most of the popular ones. I also had some WWI Balsa and doped motorized flyers (not RC) that My Dad and I would build and fly with a string together.

But then I was into Model Cars- Then Real Cars- Then Guitars- Then Girls- Jobs- College- Marriage- Babies- Suburbia- Divorces- lay-offs- Retirement- OLD AGE! What a boring biography huh? :laugh:
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If you notice in the top picture the bulge on the intake that is a conformal tank as I remember E models were the only one with those tanks. All others used normal drop tanks. Hope this gave you a little info on the Eagle. It was and still is a hell of a fighter even today.
 
Nomad said:
I'm wondering if the pilot might possibly have had personal or psychological issues and possibly veered his plane into the B-17 intentionally.

Sounds far fetched I know, but still, it makes me wonder....
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I have a friend who's a four-striper for American Airlines.

He was once asked by a passenger why he didn't have to go through security. His response?

"If I want to bring the plane down, I don't need a bomb in my suitcase to do it."
 
Nomad said:
I'm wondering if the pilot might possibly have had personal or psychological issues and possibly veered his plane into the B-17 intentionally.

Sounds far fetched I know, but still, it makes me wonder....
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The pilots on both planes were all long-time, high hour commercial airlines pilots with tons of experience.


That video explains pretty much what happened, which is largely what I said from the beginning. The pilot didn't see the bomber and by the time he might have, he and the bomber were screwed.
 
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