Race takeoff collision

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
This guy came very close to much more than just a busted hand. You can't see the damage to his a/c from the video; read his description below. Amazing.

 
f@#$er came outta nowhere!
 
That was Thom Richard of Precious Metal fame. Amazing pilot, hopefully back in Precious Metal next year if they can get it rebuilt in time for the race. It was pretty much destroyed by fire last year.
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Lowflynjack said:
That was Thom Richard of Precious Metal fame. Amazing pilot, hopefully back in Precious Metal next year if they can get it rebuilt in time for the race. It was pretty much destroyed by fire last year.
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Nice pic!
 
Where's the description? Was this at an air show? I wonder who the air boss was.
 
Geebus. Thom is one VERY lucky man. Glad he and the other pilot werent' more seriously injured.
 
I saw a vampire land in the desert on Friday at Reno. I haven't seen anything on it. I even filmed it but thought for sure others would be talking about it.
 
Not familiar with how air races are controlled if they are at all. I watched it at work with the sound turned off. All I know is that at least ONE person wasn't very smart. My comments in this thread come on the heels of me having to rip a strip off of one of my controller's ass because they weren't paying attention to what was going on.
 
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Timbeck2 said:
Not familiar with how air races are controlled if they are at all. I watched it at work with the sound turned off. All I know is that at least ONE person wasn't very smart. My comments in this thread comes on the heels of me having to rip a strip off of one of my controller's ass because they weren't paying attention to what was going on.
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Shouldn't be on your phone in the tower!
 
I'm on a computer and nothing is going on now. I'm sure that was meant as a joke but it flew right over my nugget.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Where's the description? Was this at an air show? I wonder who the air boss was.
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Here's what Thom posted on the description of the video he posted (as seen in the original post):

Thom said:
On September 18, 2016, during the Gold final start we experienced an accident involving our F1 racer, ‘Hot Stuff’ and a fellow competitor’s airplane.

We were number four on the starting grid, which was the middle inside position with three aircraft on the front row, one to our right and three behind. Upon running the engine up in anticipation of the start, about 20 seconds before the green flag drop, the engine was not running well enough for flight, as you can hear from the audio, never mind racing. I made the decision to shut the engine down to signal the starters to halt the starting process. The flagman on my row put his hands in an ‘X’ over his head, as our procedures prescribe, and I opened my canopy to make it clear I was out of the race and so everyone could see me. The alternate airplane was signaled to taxi on to the runway to replace my entry. I felt confident the communications had reached the appropriate people and waited for personnel to push me off the runway.

However, much to my surprise, I saw the flagman run out on to the runway waving his hands over his head as if something was wrong. The aircraft to my right started rolling and a few seconds later the number six and eight aircraft flew by me on either side. All I could do at that point was hope the number seven (center) aircraft would clear me on the centerline to my right.

The impact was violent and loud. His left leading edge shaved off the top several inches from my vertical and skimmed the turtle-deck without touching until it impacted my right hand holding up the canopy, at well over sixty miles an hour. The left landing gear hit the top of the gull-wing center-section, blowing a hole in the top skin and impacted the rear face of the front spar so hard that it broke the landing gear clean off his airplane. The propeller sliced three evenly spaced gashes about mid span of my right wing, about a foot apart. The right landing gear sheared the wing off just short of the right wingtip. The impact spun me around nearly 180º, like a teacup ride at warp eight. The other aircraft came to rest several hundred feet in front of me with a folded gear, damaged wing and sheared propeller facing the other way as well. That pilot received no injuries.

Three things immediately came to mind. Make yourself as small as possible to avoid further injury until things stop moving. Once the aircraft came to rest, DON’T MOVE! And since I was not on fire, wait for help to arrive. I knew my hand was busted and was not looking forward to removing my glove. But it was more important to make sure I had not been struck in the head or hurt my neck or back. After assessing my situation I realized I did not have any further injuries and proceeded to shut the switches off and assist with un-strapping myself from the wreckage. Help was there very quickly, including my flagman.

Then I proceeded to ask the condition of the other pilot and how this had happened. The video should speak for itself. My next concern was to let my crew know I was OK. The one thing any spectator looks for in an accident are the correct number of flight suits walking around the wreckage after any crash, I made sure I did. Everything else can be fixed. Reno EMS quickly patched me up with a splint and had me walking back to my pit in no time. They really are good at what they do.

Hot Stuff suffered severe damage. It’ll be several months before we figure out what to do with her. I’m not the slightest bit upset over the accident. I, in fact, consider myself a very lucky man. Another four feet to the left and I would have been minced meat. Literally dodging a bullet. A busted up hand is a small price to pay. I’ll take it. It’ll heal. Though it is difficult to type one-handed.

I’ve said many times before and I’ll say it again, there’s risk in everything we do. But the counterpart to that is reward. I choose to cross the street because the risk of crossing the street is worth the reward of getting to the other side. Same thing with air racing, I’ll be back. Of course there’ll be a review of procedures, how to prevent something like this from happening again and a thorough investigation. I’ve used up another of my nine lives, but why would you have nine unless you plan to use them?… We live, learn and race on.

Fly fast,

Thom Richard
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Timbeck2 said:
I'm on a computer and nothing is going on now. I'm sure that was meant as a joke but it flew right over my nugget.
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Yeah, I was kidding. When I did ATC we had no rules on personal devices or TV. My brother works at a tower now and they have specific rules against cell phone use while on position. Lots of times he'll end a text with, "gotta go up to the tower. See ya later."
 
We can't even have them in the tower cab. They are left downstairs in lockers. I read some of the comments below the video and sure enough, someone blamed a controller and someone else mentioned Wayne Boggs, whom I know. As I said above, at least ONE person wasn't very smart and that could very well include the controller if there was one, regardless of who it was.
 
So does putting one's canopy up stop the entire starting process or does it simply signal that that aircraft is out of the race? The other aircraft had already started their take off runs when the pilot in question put his canopy up. Little late for the other racers to abort take off at that time. Seems like Reno needs to modify their procedures on this one.
 
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Timbeck2 said:
We can't even have them in the tower cab. They are left downstairs in lockers. I read some of the comments below the video and sure enough, someone blamed a controller and someone else mentioned Wayne Boggs, whom I know. As I said above, at least ONE person wasn't very smart and that could very well include the controller if there was one, regardless of who it was.
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Think Wayne was a former Marine controller???
 
The description is in the YouTube summary by the pilot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
I know his bio reads that he spent 10 years in the Corps then went into the FAA. He's a top notch controller and a righteous dude.
 
I must be youtube challenged. I see no summary; all I see are comments from the unwashed masses.
 
To see the comment by Thom you must click on the video, then on the Youtube option on the bottom right. Then you must look below the video on the (YT) site, and just below

Published on Sep 20, 2016
Dear Race Fans,
WARNING, GRAPHIC CRASH FOOTAGE (And some foul language).

Click "See More"

OR you could click on Troy's link in post #23 above, he copy and pasted it to save all that trouble!
 
Thanks, I read it. Not going to second guess the process only to mention that "I'm out of the race and stuck in the middle of the runway" over a radio frequency may have helped a bit more than someone waving a flag. But that's just me and I wasn't invited to the air race procedures committee.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Thanks, I read it. Not going to second guess the process only to mention that "I'm out of the race and stuck in the middle of the runway" over a radio frequency may have helped a bit more than someone waving a flag. But that's just me and I wasn't invited to the air race procedures committee.
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A race modified 0-200 sitting in your lap at full throttle, where most Cassuts are hand prop with little to no electrical, I think the visual cue is more effective. I'm sure there will be no shortage of video documenting what happened here and what could be improved.
 
I'm looking forward to the thread on who's insurance handles this.
 
Be sure to move his spine around a lot.
'
 
Can't believe he did not lose that hand. I guess the wing had enough upward force when it mounted the rear fuselage to skip over it.
 
That pilot either has the biggest luck bag ever, or just emptied it completely in that one event:eek:
 
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