Watchlords

Two planes crashed in midair during an air show Saturday afternoon in Dallas, the FAA says.
“A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided and crashed at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Texas around 1:20 p.m. local time Saturday,” an FAA statement said. “At this time, it is unknown how many people were on both aircraft.”
It was unclear how many people were aboard the planes or whether there were injuries.
Dallas Executive Airport, which was hosting the event, said fire and rescue crews were responding. The FAA will assist an investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board, the statement said.
The B-17 was called the Texas Raiders, said Leah Block, spokesperson for Wings Over Dallas organizer Commemorative Air Force.
Videos, reportedly from the area, showed one plane strike another midair with people on the ground gasping.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... er-dallas/

Video

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Is what nightmares are made of-------------- and my second worse nightmare witnessing such either on video or in person.

RIP to all those whom did not survive.

Christ. That's a hell of a thing.

Fuck. To survive the fucking Nazis, and go down like that. That's really terrible to see.

RIP to the lives lost.

So sad to see. I love watching these old airplanes fly. As both an Air Force retiree and a private pilot, I know that when humans are involved, human things can and eventually do happen. Only time will tell, and it will take many months for the NTSB to determine and report what happened. One thing that most pilots pay attention to are aviation accident reports. We don't often get video evidence of them though. From the video, it appears to me that the P63 pilot was going much faster than the P51s it followed in the pattern. In order to increase their spacing, I believe the P63 pilot veered to the right and entered an extended base turn where you saw the Mustang flying wings level seconds earlier. In banking 60 degrees or more left, the P63 would not be able to see the B17 it was flying right into.
Hard to believe this could happen given that all aircraft involved should have been well aware of what speed they needed to fly to maintain safe spacing. It makes me wonder if the P63 had any other issues going on which distracted the pilot or if either the B17 or P63 somehow strayed from their planned flight path.

Great perspective on a tragic mis-coordination.

I was actually wondering about this very point - thinking of the ‘tail draggers’ at take off when the pilot can only see sky…. Which really clicked with me since I never have to worry about what is beneath my ground-restricted-chassis. The additional peripheral awareness requires a lot of quick processing and with a significant speed differential I suspect the pilot believed his line moved him through clear air… when the Fortress was still lumbering through.

It’s so painful to watch because, like many if all accidents, it was completely avoidable but for - as you so correctly pointed out - the human component.

Something will be learned from the adversity that will hopefully become “often remembered but never repeated”.

Also, with Veterans Day just recently beyond us - I do wish to thank all you Lord Veterans - Mark, Svag, Cod, Koi, and the rest of you low profile heros - thank you for your service - I am a grateful citizen.

Sad. I feel sorry for the crew's family members ( guess no one could have survived), and anyone who had to witness this live.