Wow never seen that vid! Its amazing more people didn't get killed. No explosion the thing just decinigraded.

 

Is there a sanctioning body for these races? Do the aircraft involved have to pass any sort of technical inspection in order to be allowed to race?

 

Steve there is a sanctioning Body, the International Air Racing Association, Who oversees the RARA (Reno Air Racing Association) , They have rules and regs for racing, and safety inspections just the same as any auto racing organizations. Before the Aircraft can even be flown to the event, it must receive an Airworthiness Certificate, from the FAA, CAA, EAA, or JAA depending on what airspaces it has to fly through to get there... The Airworthiness Cert. Is very difficult to get, it involves having Engineers inspect the aircraft and plans, during the build,at several stages, and then it has to be flown the first time by a certified test pilot, payed for by the owner, and then again by an FAA test pilot... Very Pricey. Then the Aircraft has to fly 200 hours listed as an experimental, before it can be rated as an Airworthy aircraft. Because of this, almost all of the planes that are used in the Open class... aka Vintage WWII fighters were modified for racing way back in the late 1940 or 1950's. and then have been sold from team to team throughout the years. Conversion now to Air racers are very rare, and usually they are custom built look alikes. Kind of like a Kit Car! It is a very complicated and long drawn out process. I was involved with it when I was flying for Robinson helicopters.. each new model of aircraft has to go through the same scrutiny.

As far as the spectators... the tickets have a caveat on them stating that air racing is very risky sport, and to be a spectator at an event, you do so at your own risk. There are also signs at the entrances that state the same thing. You will see this at most air shows too! Except US military air shows. As far as emergency aid crews.. they had plenty for most any problem that could occur, but how do plan for how many ambulances you will need? That is a subjective Guess at best.

 

as said above this series is world wide. There are televised races on from across the world. I remember specifically watching one from Spain, the one from Miami a few weeks later. This is the first one I've seen that wasn't over water.

It wouldn't surprise me if the dead pilot had an in cockpit camera, as many of the pilots did.

 

[quote

As far as the spectators... the tickets have a caveat on them stating that air racing is very risky sport, and to be a spectator at an event, you do so at your own risk. There are also signs at the entrances that state the same thing. You will see this at most air shows too! Except US military air shows. As far as emergency aid crews.. they had plenty for most any problem that could occur, but how do plan for how many ambulances you will need? That is a subjective Guess at best.[/quote]

That caveat, while it may hold up for a baseball game and a foul ball in the face, won't hold up here. There is no reasonable expectation of your death or losing limbs happening at an air race. So I am pretty sure the courts will allow the lawsuits to proceed. A jury will pretty much see it that way also. If all the parties have insurance it won't be enough. If they don't because they think the disclaimer gets them off the hook they will be rudely surprised. Future races will probably be difficult to put on either because of sky high insurance or no insurance at all.

I see three parties here already. The pilot, the Unlimited Air Race Association and the venue. The pilot for unproven mods, the Association because of having no clear cut rules on what is allowed although they all race with one trim tab, and the venue for allowing people that close. Remember the planes travel at 788 ft/sec. In 2 seconds they have gone about 1/4 mile so how close can you really allow people?

Already the blame game has started. The president of the Association says it is pilot error and the NTSB will back him up in the end. He actually sounds pretty heartless given that 11 people died and all he wants to note is that the Association is in the clear.

The pilot did say in an interview that:

“During that Leeward interview, there was a question mark even in his own mind about how the plane would respond to that increased horsepower,” Drendel said. “His response before the race was ‘well, we’re going to find out’.”

To me that sounds like there could be experimentation right up to race day without any FAA oversight needed. From what I understand FAA oversight is concerned with any disruption of commercial flights, location of spectators and availability of emergency equipment. One should note there have been a fair amount of incidents at Reno. In 1998 and 1999 planes crashed in surrounding neighborhoods after failing to negotiate the sharp turns. Reno then eased up on those turns. However, it shows how far you can go in seconds if you lost control.

To get an idea of the disconnect here I was reading an air race forum. One poster said the races should be banned and another lashed back at the nanny state. He said the pilot died doing what he enjoyed most but in his heated reply he said nothing of the dead spectators. He made the assumption that they knew they could die and so tough cookies.

 

The racing over the water is a different form of air racing, sponsored by Red Bull, that is a closed course, Pylon race, which is performed by one aircraft at a time! Red Bull has the pilots make one lap at a time, against the clock.

Reno Air races are a much older form of air racing with less turning involved, more or less like watching Stock car racing. usually it is 5-7 aircraft at a time for a 5-10 lap heat! All depending on class.

 

That caveat, while it may hold up for a baseball game and a foul ball in the face, won't hold up here. There is no reasonable expectation of your death or losing limbs happening at an air race. So I am pretty sure the courts will allow the lawsuits to proceed. A jury will pretty much see it that way also. If all the parties have insurance it won't be enough. If they don't because they think the disclaimer gets them off the hook they will be rudely surprised. Future races will probably be difficult to put on either because of sky high insurance or no insurance at all.

I see three parties here already. The pilot, the Unlimited Air Race Association and the venue. The pilot for unproven mods, the Association because of having no clear cut rules on what is allowed although they all race with one trim tab, and the venue for allowing people that close. Remember the planes travel at 788 ft/sec. In 2 seconds they have gone about 1/4 mile so how close can you really allow people?

Already the blame game has started. The president of the Association says it is pilot error and the NTSB will back him up in the end. He actually sounds pretty heartless given that 11 people died and all he wants to note is that the Association is in the clear.

The pilot did say in an interview that:

“During that Leeward interview, there was a question mark even in his own mind about how the plane would respond to that increased horsepower,” Drendel said. “His response before the race was ‘well, we’re going to find out’.”

To me that sounds like there could be experimentation right up to race day without any FAA oversight needed. From what I understand FAA oversight is concerned with any disruption of commercial flights, location of spectators and availability of emergency equipment. One should note there have been a fair amount of incidents at Reno. In 1998 and 1999 planes crashed in surrounding neighborhoods after failing to negotiate the sharp turns. Reno then eased up on those turns. However, it shows how far you can go in seconds if you lost control.

To get an idea of the disconnect here I was reading an air race forum. One poster said the races should be banned and another lashed back at the nanny state. He said the pilot died doing what he enjoyed most but in his heated reply he said nothing of the dead spectators. He made the assumption that they knew they could die and so tough cookies.[/QUOTE]

Great post. He made the assumption & although I assume that, when I go to event's like that, w/ the litigious nature of our society today, that doesn't fly anymore. (Oops! Sorry about the pun)

 

That caveat, while it may hold up for a baseball game and a foul ball in the face, won't hold up here. There is no reasonable expectation of your death or losing limbs happening at an air race. So I am pretty sure the courts will allow the lawsuits to proceed. A jury will pretty much see it that way also. If all the parties have insurance it won't be enough. If they don't because they think the disclaimer gets them off the hook they will be rudely surprised. Future races will probably be difficult to put on either because of sky high insurance or no insurance at all.

I see three parties here already. The pilot, the Unlimited Air Race Association and the venue. The pilot for unproven mods, the Association because of having no clear cut rules on what is allowed although they all race with one trim tab, and the venue for allowing people that close. Remember the planes travel at 788 ft/sec. In 2 seconds they have gone about 1/4 mile so how close can you really allow people?

Already the blame game has started. The president of the Association says it is pilot error and the NTSB will back him up in the end. He actually sounds pretty heartless given that 11 people died and all he wants to note is that the Association is in the clear.

The pilot did say in an interview that:

“During that Leeward interview, there was a question mark even in his own mind about how the plane would respond to that increased horsepower,” Drendel said. “His response before the race was ‘well, we’re going to find out’.”

To me that sounds like there could be experimentation right up to race day without any FAA oversight needed. From what I understand FAA oversight is concerned with any disruption of commercial flights, location of spectators and availability of emergency equipment. One should note there have been a fair amount of incidents at Reno. In 1998 and 1999 planes crashed in surrounding neighborhoods after failing to negotiate the sharp turns. Reno then eased up on those turns. However, it shows how far you can go in seconds if you lost control.

To get an idea of the disconnect here I was reading an air race forum. One poster said the races should be banned and another lashed back at the nanny state. He said the pilot died doing what he enjoyed most but in his heated reply he said nothing of the dead spectators. He made the assumption that they knew they could die and so tough cookies.[/quote]


Oh yes there is no debate from me, there will be numerous law suits that will test the legalease on those tickets and signs... but in point of fact it was an accident, it was not an intended event. Yes the culpability will fall on the Pilot as it always does in any air related incident... heads will roll! But in all honesty does that money replace the person who was lost? NO! Will it make their families feel better? probably not! It was just a tragic accident!

Any mods that were performed as far as Airframe, have to be approved by the FAA any power plant Mods only need to be approved by an A&P certified Mechanic. So teh blame as far as power plant failure would fall on the A&P. But Airframe will fall on the FAA, and the designer!

 

As Mike mentioned...the plane was highly modified for speed...I believe it was capable of 500 MPH +/-. That particular air show/race has a pretty deplorable safety record with many deaths.

 

Sknyliv airshow disaster


This was in July of 2002 in the Ukraine! the worst airshow crash ever with 77 dead and 543 injured!

Reno Stead Airport, is a private aircraft class Delta airspace.. in other words it is pretty much small general aviation private aircraft.. the Airport when it was built was by itself. Approximately 5 miles north of the Reno/Sparks civic area. Over the years many people have built homes in the surrounding areas, to be close to where they hangar their aircraft. Not unusual! So when they have an aircraft go down in their Neighborhood which was basically open land when the airport was built, well I don't really feel to sorry for them, it was a chance they took... As for the safety record of the Air races...

As for the safety record of the air races.. they all have their crashes, just as auto racing does... compare this to a Nascar event,with 3, 4 maybe as many as 7 o 8 accidents, in one race. I was at Long Beach Grand Prix one year and the first race of the day was a Formula Atlantic race.... 44 cars started the race, and in the first turn there was a 41 car pile up.. 3 cars were able to continue the race.... Racing is inherently dangerous, if you are a spectator you have to use your head, and not get lulled into believing that you are safe. These events have gone on for years, and will keep going on because we the public like to see the risk of life and limb! They may shut it down for a year or two but it will most likely be back... An airliner crashes, but we don't shut down all of the airports and ban aviation, life goes on!

 

This will be to air racing what the Cali 200 tragedy was to desert racing. A lot of negative reaction will follow by those from the outside looking in. Prayers to all who were touched by this horrible accident.

 

The movement of the stands is of no use.
With an aircraft moving at speed the extra distance would be of no effect.
What do you call it? Fate?
Wrong place to be at that time.

Think about the ballistics involved.
In a universe. Moving through existence.
In a galaxy. Moving through the Universe. "how fast is the Milky Way Galaxy moving? The speed turns out to be an astounding 1.3 million miles per hour"
In a Solar System. Moving Etc. "revolving around the center of the Milky Way at 568,000 m.p.h"
On a planet revolving in orbit of Sol. 64,800 mph
Rotating on its' axis.. 795 mph
Bringing your seat into a point in space;
The instant that an airplane attempts to occupy said point in space.

 

2 DIE IN GULFPORT ACCIDENT - Featured Story - SunHerald.com

The people in the Denali and the Fusion were headed home when the S-10 appeared from across the median at 60mph.
Two dead in the S-10.
The front of the Denali is 3 feet from the driverside rocker panel of the S-10.

 

Yup. There are some pretty gruesome videos floating around from that crash.

 

That's deep.