Oshkosh accident..

[Brett_Henderson]

I just now got back on the ground in Columbus and haven't searched news sites yet.. Wanted to come here first..

I'll post a report about the trip with MANY photos later, but first I have to report, and ask if anybody has heard details.. about a horrific accident. An Avenger taxied up on what looked like a Vans

[flyboy 28]

Ooh man. That sucks. Must have been horrible. :-/

[beaky]

I hate to sound like "one of those people" but man, there were a lot of (fatal)accidents at or related to Airventure this year... This one is particularly bad; I don't even want to think about what an Avenger prop would do to an RV...  :-/  
It's a double-bummer, because this event has such an excellent record under very demanding conditions. Let's hope the strong reputation of the EAA keeps the "Chicken Little" panic at bay...
Glad you flew in and out unscathed; must have been a little less than relaxing at times.
Eagerly awaiting your debrief...

[matt2190]

Was not aware of these accidents. I have only heard of the aircraft stalling on final and crashing.

[Mobius]

I was eating lunch when it happened, and I heard two guys that worked there talking about it, and all they said was a warbird had just hit an Vans something or another, and one was dead for sure.  That wasn't too long after it had happened, so I don't think it was a very pretty sight.  I'm really glad I wasn't down at that end when it happened.  Literally minutes before that my dad and I were walking towards the runway from Aeroshell Square and we came to the part where the airplanes taxi out onto 36-18, and we were trying to decide to go left and watch the airplanes take-off and land, or to got right, and right then I got really hungry, so we went to the right to get something to eat.  If we had gone left we would have been right there when it had happened, so I'm glad we didn't.

I took a picture of where it was going on, but I didn't really feel like taking pictures was the right thing to do...


It really has to be difficult to see out of those warbirds, because they're so high, and they're tail-draggers, so they can't see out the front.  I don't know what they're supposed to do to see anything in front of them while they're taxiing.

[Brett_Henderson]

Wow .. we were probably within feet of each other..

I did all my picture-taking Saturday and we were really just over that way to get a weather briefing at the booth where the bus that circles the camping.. meets the little tram depot .. right by Warbird parkng.. So I didn't have my camera. We had walked up to get some of those sinfully good do-nuts near the show-line along 18/36..

I was tired and sun-burned and my feet were killing me.. but my problems felt trivial in a hurry. It was surreal..

[IcraveAkro]

I saw the entire accident from 15 feet away. An awful sight that I will never forget. May God be with the pilots and the families of those involved.

Bill Beseler
Pilot
American Virtual Airshows

[beaky]

I saw the entire accident from 15 feet away. An awful sight that I will never forget. May God be with the pilots and the families of those involved.

Bill Beseler
Pilot
American Virtual Airshows

Not being ghoulish here; strictly looking to learn...
Were they both moving when the collision occured? Did the Avenger approach from directly behind, or did it strike the side of the RV fuselage? Did either pilot seem to have time to try to do anything about it, or...?

I'm just wondering... not trying to pin blame on anybody, but other than a mechanical problem, this kind of thing is generally the result of a mistake, and I'd like to avoid making the same mistake myself.
Believe me, if you don't want to "replay" it, I understand.  :-/

[IcraveAkro]

From what I saw the avenger was taxiing at under 5mph, or a brisk walk which is how you are suppose to taxi. The taxi way was to narrow for the Avenger to do S turns and never saw the stopped RV. From seeing it I dont blame the pilot of the avenger but I am writing a letter to EAA asking them for next year to have wingwalkers guide big taildraggers like that out to the runway so something like this never happens again. Hopefully they listen to my suggestions because I hope this never happens again.

Bill

[beaky]

From what I saw the avenger was taxiing at under 5mph, or a brisk walk which is how you are suppose to taxi. The taxi way was to narrow for the Avenger to do S turns and never saw the stopped RV. From seeing it I dont blame the pilot of the avenger but I am writing a letter to EAA asking them for next year to have wingwalkers guide big taildraggers like that out to the runway so something like this never happens again. Hopefully they listen to my suggestions because I hope this never happens again.

Bill

That's a really good idea. And one thing I've learned from this is that if you have a passenger with you in a situation like that, it'd be wise to ask them to watch your six when you need to look elsewhere.

[Mobius]

That's pretty much why I don't think I would ever fly anything less than an F-15 there.

[Brett_Henderson]

I used 9/27 (27) both flying in and departing, so I never got near that part of the airport IN a plane. Watching all the old fighters and bombers use mostly 18/36 had me kinda hoping I could get out of there on Sunday, on 18 and maybe taxi with a B-25 or something.

If I'm not mistaken.. all the warbirds were using their own, seperate ground frequency BECAUSE small, crowded taxi-ways were so dangerous for them.  

I've gone from shock and sadness, to anger. I'm not in a blaming frame of mind; but if I were, I'd like to hear what a ground controller has to say about this accident.

*sigh*

[Hagar]

Makes me shudder to think of it. I was going to keep quiet as I have never been to Oshkosh & it's far bigger than anything I have experience of. It's easy to be wise after the event but where you have such a large number of different types operating from the same taxyways & runways I don't think you can rely on ATC & radio alone. Taildraggers are not easy to taxy at the best of times & it would be even more difficult in something the size of the Avenger. It would be impossible to see over that nose so it's obviously highly dangerous to taxy in a restricted or crowded area. This is where a team of experienced ground marshals & wing-walkers is essential. IMHO

PS. Accidents like this only take a second's loss of concentration even when you can see directly ahead. I recently posted some shots of what happened at Shoreham when a Yak 52 Yak 18T taxied into the back of a Diamond Star waiting to take off. This was during a quiet period when they were the only two aircraft on the taxiway. Fortunately the Yak braked immediately so there was very little damage & no injuries but that big prop would have soon made mincemeat of the DA40.