Air Show Tragedy

[st27]

Sad news today from Texas…the air show circuit had a terrible accident involving a B17 which was hit by a Bell P63 inflight….it doesn’t look like any survivors.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/dallas-airshow-disaster-caught-video-planes-collide-mid-air

[Specs]

At first glance he probably never even saw the B17 under his nose

[Airband]

Two retired AA captains piloting the B17 - so sad in so many ways

[Kip Powick]

The single engine was probably looking left, looking for more of his group up in the air, and never saw the B-17. There is little consolation in the death of anyone driving an aircraft  but as far as the B-17 crew, based on the video, they didn't have time to say WTF? 

[st27]

I think a focus might be on the poor visibility from the P63 cockpit.

[Kip Powick]

28 minutes ago, st27 said:

I think a focus might be on the poor visibility from the P63 cockpit.

Good possibility, but I have read that the "Air Boss" could be in the deep "doo-doo"  for allowing a conflict with the  "fighters" doing their show with the B-17 still "centre" stage.

I would imagine the NTSB will have a a large input  as the show was primarly run by civies, however, most of the players , (in the entire show),were ex military or civies that owned  aircraft.

[st27]

Agree with the comments…..from what I have gathered so far, there was an outside oval along the flight line for bombers, and an inside oval for fighters. And maybe loss of visuals/ separation became an issue with numerous a/c in the air at one time.

If this was the flight plan, it didn’t seem me to me to be the safest display.

[Rich Pulman]

4 hours ago, st27 said:

Agree with the comments…..from what I have gathered so far, there was an outside oval along the flight line for bombers, and an inside oval for fighters. And maybe loss of visuals/ separation became an issue with numerous a/c in the air at one time.

If this was the flight plan, it didn’t seem me to me to be the safest display.

Airshows are usually highly scripted, even more so with dissimilar aircraft. As a former air display pilot, I’ve sat in on many morning briefings with the Air Boss and all the other performers. It was critical that we knew who we were following and who followed us into & out of show centre. Show lines were also critical. Any violation of minimum altitudes, busting a show line, or altering the approved demonstration got you a quick invitation to leave the show immediately and not come back. Contingency plans were in place for performers who had an emergency or just lost the plot. In this accident, it’s hard to believe they had opposing orbits of aircraft without any hard altitude separation. There should have at least been a contingency plan for any aircraft that was going to bust their show line to go vertical rather than belly-up to the adjacent orbit. Perhaps there were such plans and the fighter pilot lost SA. It’s easy to get wound up with adrenaline at airshows and do things that look a bit crazy in hindsight. Such a shame so many people had to pay the ultimate price for someone else’s mistake.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Rich Pulman

[st27]

More analysis from an active pilot…

 

[Airband]

Quote

'There were no altitude deconflictions briefed before the flight or while the airplanes were in the air.'

NTSB Preliminary Investigation Report

[J.O.]

Juan Brown posted an update based on the NTSB’s preliminary report. The Air Boss has much to answer for.