Horrific New Video Shows Close-Up of Reno Plane As it Crashed
- Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:33pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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NBC News unveiled new, shocking video this morning showing a new angle of the horrific Reno Air Race crash.
The new footage was taken from almost immediately below the plane as it careened to the ground. It offers an eerie view of the plane’s belly right before it strikes the ground:
The video comes as some new details are emerging about the incident. The death toll has now risen to 10 and officials now believe they have found a flight data recorder as well as video equipment from the crashed plane. NBC reports on the findings (thumbnail is the same but video is different):
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In addition to the new information about the possible camera, the Daily Mail (via ABC) is reporting that the pilot may have been unconscious during the moments before the crash:
ABC News consultant and former pilot Steve Ganyard said that after examining pictures of the plane before it hit the ground, it appeared Leeward was not conscious.
He said: ‘There is no pilot’s head in that cockpit.
‘It tells me that he was likely unconscious, slumped over the controls.’
The Daily Mail also reports that pictures taken of the plane during its final moments show a possible piece missing from the tail. That could could also be a key piece of evidence in the investigation:
Investigators have been focusing on the ‘elevator trim tab’ – a piece of the tail that helps the aircraft maintain lift and appeared to break off before the crash.
[...]
Investigators said they also recovered part of the tail section, where the tab is located.
As investigators look for answers, a photograph has emerged showing that a piece of the tail was missing before the aircraft plummeted to the ground.
NTSB spokesman Mark Rosekind said at a news conference: ‘Pictures and video appear to show a piece of the plane was coming off.
‘A component has been recovered. We have not identified the component or if it even came from the airplane … We are going to focus on that.’
Tim O’Brien of Grass Valley, California, who is chairman of an air show in his hometown and photographed Friday’s races, took the picture which shows the part missing.
He said pilot Jimmy Leeward’s P-51 was racing six other planes and was in the process of moving from third place into second when it pitched violently upward, rolled and then headed straight down.
Here’s the picture:
This story has been updated with more information.
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Comments (67)
TheGreyPiper
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 9:03pmDammit, y’all had me all cranked up. Thought it was something about Janet Reno…
Report Post »itsafact
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 11:19pmReally,this was a horrific crash with many killed and more injured.I’m in this clip,you can see me at the end.I’m pulling my brother back on his feet.The terror felt by me and many others in the path of that plane was only offset by the horror of the scene in front of us.There were people lying everywhere, some were missing limbs many were missing more.The pain will never end for many family’s.I don’t understand how anyone could make light of something like this.Have we become that indifferent to human suffering.We should all spend a little time reviewing before posting.
Report Post »IspytheGov
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 8:31pmAs sad as the crash was I am struck by the incontrovertible evidence to what happens in high energy level impacts of airframe structures and any solid object, more specially in reference to 911 and the pentagon impact in-which the conspiracy groups claim it was not a big jet due to no plane parts being left at the site of the impact. The video of this tragedy clearly show just how aircraft simply disintegrate when at high speed. Just remember an airframe is 90% air and my prayers go you to all of the effected families.
Report Post »1SSF
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 1:00am@ISPYTHEGOV — I myself have been concerned with exactly the same issues of energy, ISPY. As this film clearly indicates, the energies involved with air crashes at high velocity are massive and incredible. For the sake of comparison, the P-51 Mustang in this discussion, Galloping Ghost, was an aircraft rated at 7,635 pounds empty weight. Moreover, there have been estimates that suggest the aircraft struck the deck at approximately 400 miles per hour. Whatever its speed, the video shows the impact to the deck was literally explosive in nature, and done so rapidly the fuel-air mixture for combustion (fire) quickly dissipated into thin vapors. Upon impact, the aircraft acted as if it were a fragmenting rifle projectile. Conversely Flight 93 — a Boeing 757 with an empty weight of (roughly) 127,500 pounds — struck the deck in Shanksville at 563 miles per hour. When taking into accounts of variables, Flight 93 generated approximately twenty times the energy than that of Galloping Ghost at the point of impact. This is the reason the passengers and aircrew of Flight 93 — AND the aircraft — disappeared. Indeed, the crash in Shanksville may have been the greatest single registered aircrash at impact in aviation history.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 7:07pmI don’t know if it is the video or not, but doesn’t seem like anyone would have time to do anything by the time they saw it. Just moving to fast to do anything. Must less the g’s that he must have been pulling.
Report Post »Lloyd Drako
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 7:31pmI agree. There were reports that he transmitted a Mayday, but from what I’ve seen, he didn’t throttle back, which I think is normally almost the first thing a competent–and conscious–pilot would do in a situation like this.
Report Post »itsafact
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 11:35pmYea, 10 or 15 seconds from when he pulled up.The way it was wobbling you couldn’t decide where to go anyway.He never cut the power the engine was screaming as it hit the ground. It was amazing how it just disappeared into the ground.The engine did shoot out of the impact and across the tarmac everything else was no bigger than toaster.I was waiting for a fire ball but thank God it didn’t happen.
Report Post »TexasBlaze
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 7:04pmRe the speculation on “no fire due to self-sealing fuel bladder”… you folks are not thinking. Get real. Upon impact (look at the videos posted everywhere) the airplane became schrapnel… little pieces of torn metal. There was no “self-sealing” of anything left, folks. No fire due to minimal fuel in a racer, and somehow no source of ignition for what was left.
Report Post »Polecat
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 8:12pmSelf-sealing bladder was for bullet holes, back in the day. This was no doubt a Fuel Cell (ala NASCAR) a tank filled with a giant wick like a Zippo lighter.
Report Post »p51d007
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 6:52pmFirst thing I noticed in the close up shots were that the pilot cannot be seen. I think the telemetry will show something happened, he pulled out of the race, which means pulling up. If the elevator malfunctioned and it caused him to pull STRAIGHT up, it is possible he g-locked and blacked out, or had a medical problem, which caused the plane to roll over and come straight down. Sad for the loss of life, but, considering he hit the most sparsely packed part of the densely packed stands, it could have been much worse.
Report Post »I don’t know what the restrictions on separation between the crowd are, but in any air race, there is going to be the chance of people being injured. If you don’t want the risk, don’t go.
comsense08
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 6:13pmAt least he went out doing what he loved. Most of us only wish. I have been to those races. Coming around that last pylon lines the plane right up with the stands. We all saw that, we all accepted it and we all enjoyed it. Who knows, maybe the last great act of this pilot was to pick the least catastrophic spot he could, knowing he was going in. This is why we cherish life.
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 9:56amPeople really miss-use the phrase, “died doing what he loved” I was a pilot for 40 years, and have been retired for 6 years. I truly LOVED flying, but every time I went up I knew I did not want to die that day. I haven’t flown at all in 6 years and I have learned to love my new life or retirement. I‘m glad that I didn’t “die doing what I Loved” a few years ago or I wouldn’t be able to die doing what I love some years from now.
Report Post »csm-101
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 6:09pmMy Dad used to be the FAA head of air safety at the Reno air races so I went quite a few times, it is quite the event to experience, in the times I went I saw 4 planes crash 2 fatal but nothing like what happened last Friday. The Pilots and Fans are there to be a part of and to witness and to experience a rare and unique tradition of aerial history, expertise and professionalism unlike anywhere in the world….keep em flying!
Report Post »Danola
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 5:25pmThis video came from NBC…..I don’t know whether to believe it is real or not. They can’t be trusted!
Report Post »Lotus503
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 5:12pmThe trim tab is either missing or in the full downward deflection position. If it were full down, it would be impossible to control the pitch of the aircraft, especially at 350+ mph.
Report Post »apollo18
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 8:19amWould the effects of a trim tab negate the effects of the entire elevator?
Report Post »urrybr
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 2:00pmI don’t think that the trim tab would cause such violent reaction. It is a “trim” tab, designed to take pressure off of the controls. I would think that the tab might be a symptom of bigger problems. These guys take a lot of g’s in these races. It’s very probable that he blacked-out during his manuvering to get into 2nd place. We just don’t know. Condolences to his family. Whatever the cause, a family has lost a son, brother, and father.
Report Post »Codger
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:56pmI have yet to bring myself to watch any videos of this horrific accident. Why would I do that? I pray investigators find the cause and my heart and prayers go out to all those lost and injured and affected as well as their families and friends. Truly tragic.
Report Post »Barry Soetoro70
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:56pmHaving been an aviator in the past, the forces on the control stick at that speed are incredible even with the trim tab intact. Seeing pics of the trim tab falling off— my money is on that for the cause. God Bless the pilot and all those killed/injured.
Report Post »Jim in Houston
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:46pmAs a former aircraft maintenance officer, I have to disagree. The trim tab would reduce the load on the stick, but it should still be controllable.
Report Post »timej31
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:55pmI believe that something happened to Jimmy. Something like a stroke where he jerked back the stick so hard the force of the sudden move broke off one of the trim tabs. I do not see how that alone would cause such a loss of control that this would result. I believe Jimmy was not conscious when the plane went down. You cannot even see him in any of the photos but one and you see him against the instrument panel. The others you don’t + you never hear him reduce power it’s still at show speed. This is only my hunch but I just have a feeling something happened to Jimmy that cause this be it a stroke or simply expiring. Not uncommon. I had a neighbor over sitting on my porch one day talking golf (this was back in the late 70′s) and he mentioned who he would like to see win the Nelson and was smoking his pipe and just fell over and off the porch. Not a health concern at all! Just was him time to go.
Report Post »Viet Vet
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 8:15pm@timej31
I’m with you.
Report Post »Polecat
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 8:33pmAt that level, expected G’s and un-expected G’s are two very things. TIMEJ31 points out the throttle remains un-changed, this could be very telling in deed. These things are usually cascades. Loss of Trim Tab leads to un-expected G load, causing who knows what. Having you arm suddenly weigh 1,200 lbs might make external forces on the controls irrelevant.
Report Post »quickstudy
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:47pmThe horizontal stabilizer is an upside down airfoil that is designed to pull down on the tail and raise the nose. As you go faster you need to add down elevator trim or she’ll progressively start to climb. The more load/G’s you apply to a wing the higher its stall speed. While already pulling G’s (the main wings are under load), if all of a sudden that trim tab disappears, the nose would pop up and you could stall (a wing can stall at any speed and any attitude). And even if it didn’t stall, the pilot wasn‘t expecting those G’s and could have passed out.
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:12pmCorrect.
This is the initial conclusion me and my friends have all come to as well. My buddy, who manufactures the telemetry on board (one of them), said his g-meter pegged at it‘s max of 8 g’s. That violent pull-up was probably much more than 8 g’s. Even on a young person in the prime of his life with a g-suit it would be painful. I’ve pulled 6.2 g’s in a steady but increasing rate and it hurts. Instantly hitting 10 – 12g’s does bad things to the human body.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the final analysis is at the conclusion of the NTSB report.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:43pmInteresting stuff Tsunami.
Report Post »Ernie Kaputnik
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:16pmExcellent point.
Too many of us spend our entire lives trying to obtain things that don’t matter, while faiing to remember how lucky we are to be alive and appreciate the people and things in our lives that do we do have which truly matter. Many of us complain about what we DON’T have, rather than appreciate what we DO have. Each of us needs to remember to live each day to the fullest, because it may just be our last.
Report Post »Foodgye
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:02pmI noticed that the pilots head cannot be seen in the cockpit. Could he have blacked out when pulling up and out of the race for the may day call?
Report Post »Jim in Houston
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:48pmCould be he was 74 years old. I am also 74 and in very good physical shape for the age, but I don‘t think I would be able to handle that many G’s anymore.
Report Post »Blazer_me
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:59pmmy guess is that if the trim tab fell off, the forces on the stick were too great for him to handle. Going that fast, it probably pulled the stick back in his lap and with the g-forces associated with that, it knocked him out. This explains the sudden pull up, too.
Report Post »Conservitive Ticker
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:47pmAs an aviator this is very sad and my heart goes out to all those affected by this tragedy. But I’m sorry to say all the troll lawyers cockroaches will be coming out of the wood work looking to make a buck and a little bit of fame off this. Accidents happen the FFA will look into greater safety measure I hope. But I‘m sure the NTSB will put the FED’s nose in and create regulation that will choke the life out of such events.
Report Post »teamarcheson
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:03pmWhy wasn’t there a fire or explosion?
Report Post »Champ
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:31pm“Why wasn’t there a fire or explosion”
Um, because this is not a movie with special effects. Not all crashes result in fire in real life. Only in the movies does a crash ALWAYS result in a fire.
Infidelephant
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:03pmself sealing fuel bladder
Report Post »Milkman
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:39pmWow…… I’m thinking as experienced as this veteran stunt pilot was…… is there speculation that we had a stroke or heart attack while in the cockpit? How else could something so horrific happen?
Report Post »SoCalConservative88
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:46pm@Milkman: I don’t know, maybe because a PIECE OF THE AIRPLANE FELL OFF. Did you not read the article or what?!?!
macpappy
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:58pmHe was a race pilot. Not a stunt pilot. There is a difference. Different planes, different skills, different
Report Post »everything, including planes. P-51s are not usually used for stunts, and they were not performing stunts when this happened.
But, I agree whatever happened, it was catastrophic, because he was a very skilled pilot from all I read.
Arshloch
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:36pmUnless you hide in a cave, there are dangers in every action. Kudos are due to Jimmy for a job well done. If not for his last actions, the toll would have been many times worse.
Report Post »Drum Man
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:26pmWow. So sad. Prayers to all involved.
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:14pmThis video was taken from a person seated very close to one of my friends (based on my friends description).
He told me per phone conversation:
“Dude, we saw what was happening on the valley of speed and when it pitched up and rolled over all we could see was the spinner and the prop coming right at us, and at the last minute the trajectory changed just enough to miss us”. He also said that he looked at friend sitting next to me and said “crap, we have nowhere to run.”
Can you imagine??????
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:57pmNO FIRE BALL at crash site…The people are lucky…VERY LUCKY!!
Report Post »SmoothCrimiNole
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:27pmit’s called a self sealing fuel bladder, was a huge advantage when we were in WWII against the Japanese Zero which didn’t have one…
Report Post »jedi.kep
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:56pmJust that quick, your life is over. Live everyday grateful for what you have been given.
Report Post »Gary Fishaholic
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:53pmYes this was very sad my prayers go out to all involved in this horrific accident.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:48pmwow
INCREDIBLE FOOTAGE.
Report Post »johnannegalt
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:56pmhttp://markamerica.com/2011/09/18/the-reno-disaster/
“This has been a sad weekend for those who follow aviation, and a tragic weekend for those whose lives have been changed by the events in Reno. Though I’ve flown many times over the course of my life, it’s never been as a pilot. I still go to airshows, knowing fully the risks, because like most of the people in attendance, there’s still something to be said for the dreams of our youth when the consequences seemed distant and the thrilling roar of the engines was so near at hand. We weren’t consumed by fear. That successive generations have been able to pass this along from father to son and on to granddaughter is a hopeful thing. As we remember the dead and mourn their passing, we would do well to remember that many of them shared these same dreams. It’s why they were there.”
Report Post »ilovethiscountry
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:43pmThis is so sad!
Report Post »IntransigentMind
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:45pmLet’s remember them and their dreams:
Report Post »http://markamerica.com/2011/09/18/the-reno-disaster/