Damned unreliable piston engines

denverpilot said:
Anyone know what the thread title has to do with any of this? It's editable...
Click to expand...

Probably because of this paragraph in the article linked by the OP:

Witnesses said they saw the plane flying rather low before it went nose first into the river around 7 p.m.They say that the airplane was attempting “stunts” and the engine stalled when trying a backward “loop,” causing the airplane to roll over and strike the water.​

Plane crashed because the engine stalls while doing impossible aerobatics . . . Leave it to our wonderful "journalists" to come up with an explanation like that. Any idea what a "backward 'loop'" is???
 
I believe to perform a "backward loop" you dive to gain a tremendous amount of speed. Level out, and skillfully use the rudder to pivot the aircraft around 180 degrees so you are essentially traveling backwards. Apply extreme back pressure and with enough momentum you can do a nice tight backward loop. Not for the faint of heart and best to perform at higher altitudes.
 
Just got back from the airport...and I am local to the crash sight...apparently his whole family witnessed the incident and were camping at that location...
 
We had a local school teacher who bet money on an oil well drilling partnership and hit it big (in the days of $100 oil). He bought a P-51, got himself a flight suit with patches and and stuff and started going around to local fly-ins, pancake breakfasts and such, and putting on a show of loops and rolls.
He dished out of the bottom of a loop - sorta ran out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time.
 
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