"Two pilots were killed in a mid-air crash at the Radom Air Show in Poland on Saturday as
thousands of spectators watched, Poland's TVN24 news channel reported."
Once again... Air shows must be one of the most dangerous things in flying!
Fox808 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2007, 6 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 4 days ago) and read 10091 times:
Yes, horribile accident, 2 pilots died, one 62 year old 'Lech Marchelewski' with nearly 5000 hours in air and the second one 24 year old 'Piotr Banachowicz' with about 500 hours. It was supposed to be the last flight of the group leader 'Lech Marchelewski'. Air Show is cancelled. The cause of the crash remains unknown.
3MilesToWRO From Poland, joined Mar 2006, 193 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 9743 times:
Quoting Bofredrik (Thread starter): Air shows must be one of the most dangerous things in flying!
Well, after all that's what the shows are for. Safety means or not, if you want to do something spectacular, you usually must do something more dangerous than regular flight.
Boeing4ever From United States, joined Apr 2001, 4855 posts, RR: 49 Reply 13, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 8046 times:
This is terrible. May the pilots RIP. They died doing what they love.
A note...compared with Rammstein, it's interesting to see that only the pilots were killed. The rules that come from these tragedies help to prevent/minimize future ones. There were no spectator injuries.
May the Zelazny soar again!
B4e-Forever New Frontiers
Eagles may soar, but weasels are never sucked into jet engines!
ORDFan From United States, joined Jun 2007, 35 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 7388 times:
Terrible news, but just out of curiosity, does anyone the type of aircraft those pilots were flying? Unfortunately, that's what makes airshows so exhilarating and fascinating -- the danger and the possibility of crashes. These pilots are performing intense manevours, often very close to the ground with little room or altitude for error, and sometimes mistakes happen to the best of them.
3MilesToWRO From Poland, joined Mar 2006, 193 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 7130 times:
They were flying Zlin, but I don't exactly know which. AFAIK this team used different types of Zlins at once (you can see it even on some of the pictures). You can try at http://www.zelazny.azl.pl/ , but I'm afraid they have only Polish language there. You can also search database here for "Zelazny".
Pictures of the crash are horrifying, yet very interesting from technical point of view, too. You can exactly see what happens at 300 km/h crash - aircrafts are actually atomized. (Which, as a side note, might be useful for those interesed in 9/11 conspiracy theories, those of kind "it couldn't be airliner, there were no airliner parts visible". Well, the airliner hit twice-thrice as fast.)
I was also a little surprised there were no fire, but now I think it's logical. Before the fuel had time to spread in the air, all was over. The heat of impact dissipated, and there were no "open flames" to ignite, since the engines were piston, not jets in which you have continous flame that could come out of destroyed combustion chamber. At least I think so.
I wonder if there would be a chance of parachuting for the pilots. They almost for sure died at the moment of collision, but since one of them was thrown out of cockpit (you can even see it on picture) I wonder if instant opening of parachute could save him, provided of course that he was still alive. It was 30 meters, but with horizontal speed of 300 km/h I think there would ba a chance for the parachute to open.
MHG From Germany, joined Dec 2004, 348 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 6943 times:
Quoting 3MilesToWRO (Reply 16): I wonder if there would be a chance of parachuting for the pilots. They almost for sure died at the moment of collision, but since one of them was thrown out of cockpit (you can even see it on picture) I wonder if instant opening of parachute could save him, provided of course that he was still alive. It was 30 meters, but with horizontal speed of 300 km/h I think there would ba a chance for the parachute to open.
If the parachute opens ... What is the use if the pilot is already dead ?
Even if there was any other sort of "rescue-system" the pilot would not be able survive this kind of impact.
That´s because his body would not be able to stand the high forces that happened at the moment of impact !
IMAGINE ! ! !
The body´s speed of around +/- 300 km/h being slowed down to nearly 0 km/h within a fraction of a second simply breaks one´s neck and destroys other vital parts of the body immediately.
(this is not comparable to an ejection seat - next to the fact that the pilots don´t have the time and possibility to even reach the "ejection" handle...)
BHXFAOTIPYYC From Portugal, joined Jun 2005, 1644 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 6316 times:
Tragic. Very sad. I worry that with accidents like these there will be people out there calling for air shows to be cancelled because they are too dangerous. The Portugal Air Show in Evora is only 2 weeks away.
RIP to the victims, and sincere condolences to their families.
Breakfast in BHX, lunch in FAO, dinner in TIP, baggage in YYC.
A320ajm From United Kingdom (England), joined May 2006, 391 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 6133 times:
I think that video was really scary - what the hell went wrong?
My condolences to their familis.
Regards
A320ajm
If the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'
3MilesToWRO From Poland, joined Mar 2006, 193 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 5839 times:
Quoting MHG (Reply 17): If the parachute opens ... What is the use if the pilot is already dead ?
Even if there was any other sort of "rescue-system" the pilot would not be able survive this kind of impact.
Of course all discussion makes sence only with assumption that the pilot, let's not be afraid to say - miraculously, survives te impact itself. There is a chance - if he gets thrown out of the cockpit upon the disintegration and continues forward. And he would have to start the parachute absolutely with no delay - also not an easy task for someone so dramatically surprised.
Boeing4ever From United States, joined Apr 2001, 4855 posts, RR: 49 Reply 23, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3879 times:
Quoting 3MilesToWRO (Reply 16): They were flying Zlin, but I don't exactly know which. AFAIK this team used different types of Zlins at once (you can see it even on some of the pictures). You can try at http://www.zelazny.azl.pl/ , but I'm afraid they have only Polish language there. You can also search database here for "Zelazny".
I believe it's the Zlin Z-526 with retractable gear and the Zlin Z-50 with fixed gear. On first glance at the photos it looks like a Z-526 impacted a Z-50, though I confess now that I think about it, I'm getting this info based on one of the severed wings of one of the planes. One of the gears is down and still attached. I'd imagine on the Z-50 the gear is fuselage mounted, so it's likely that it was two Z-526's and one gear was simply knocked down by the forces of impact.
It was probably two Z-526's. I wonder what the pilot of #3 was thinking when he saw this...granted it happened in the blink of an eye. Wonder if he even noticed. How horrible.
B4e-Forever New Frontiers
Eagles may soar, but weasels are never sucked into jet engines!
Widebody From Ireland, joined Aug 2000, 1126 posts, RR: 11 Reply 24, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3365 times:
Quoting 3MilesToWRO (Reply 16): I wonder if there would be a chance of parachuting for the pilots. They almost for sure died at the moment of collision, but since one of them was thrown out of cockpit (you can even see it on picture) I wonder if instant opening of parachute could save him, provided of course that he was still alive. It was 30 meters, but with horizontal speed of 300 km/h I think there would ba a chance for the parachute to open.
Maybe my eyesight is not as good as I think but where can you see the pilot being ejected from the cockpit? I would imagine he would be in the same state as the plane. Unfortunate aspect of plane crashes.
3MilesToWRO From Poland, joined Mar 2006, 193 posts, RR: 0 Reply 25, posted (2 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 3265 times:
Quoting Widebody (Reply 24): where can you see the pilot being ejected
I think it's here. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/5,80291,4451990.html?i=6
In cockpit location there is a yellow cloud from which some shape emerges to the left. Considering that according to reports one of the pilots indeed _was_ ejected it seems probable to me that this is the unfortunate pilot falling head-first from the wreckage.
While one of the planes was ripped to shrapnels and expression "pilot's body was found" might be kind of euphemism, the other was not so atomized and the body could be relatively intact.
26 Boeing4ever: The beginning of the video confirms it...two of the three Zlin Z-526s collided. No Z-50s. Personally, I don't go looking for bodies in such photograp
27 Hmmmm...: Not sure of the logic there. Piston engine airplanes explode when they collide like that. The source of ignition is sparks.
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