Mini air show (WWII planes) Burlington/Statesville/Greenville SC.

Picture from my flight in the P-51. Man that was an awesome flight. About 4 rolls, one loop, one thing I can't mention haha. After about 30-40 minutes I was feeling pretty bad, but made it the full flight (about 1 hr 15 mins) without barfing.

The rolls are not bad at all, the loop and hard bank turns you can really feel the G's.

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Did ground tour of a B-17 today at Greenville Pitt in Greenville, NC. Neat stuff. Makes me appreciate what a our servicemen endured for our freedom. When they fired up the first engine it sounded like my buggy. Just 2 1/2 times the horsepower.
 
moldman05 said:
Did ground tour of a B-17 today at Greenville Pitt in Greenville, NC. Neat stuff. Makes me appreciate what a our servicemen endured for our freedom. When they fired up the first engine it sounded like my buggy. Just 2 1/2 times the horsepower.
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You think the B-17 sounds good, you should hear the B-25. They are 1,700 hp per engine vs the 1,200 of the B-17. Still crazy to think they took the B-25 off of a carrier deck, but after flying in one you can kind of believe how it was possible.
 
Yes. I just saw someone post about it on Facebook that I volunteered with last year. He was there, but not on the flight. I know the pilot and one other crew member didn't make it. I met the pilot last year, actually helped change the tires on that plane, and took my whole family up in it too.

I wouldn't trust anyone to fly that more than Mac, he had more hours flying a B-17 than anyone on Earth (if I had to guess more than anyone, EVER). The pilots in the other planes rotated (the pilots are all volunteers), but Mac traveled with them year round and was ALWAYS the pilot in the B-17. He was an ornery guy, and things had to be done his way for sure, BUT he was a good teacher too. Hearing him and the co-pilot banter while I was on the plane (with headset on) would make you laugh. Especially because I could hear them talking and the co-pilot not doing what Mac wanted (this was on a landing), Mac said "you really gotta wrestle this bitch" (as the tail was wagging back and forth) before he took over and brought the tail down smooth.

I won't say I was close to him, but he reminded me a lot of my dad (and I have said that BEFORE the crash). Had bad knees so he kind of walked like my dad, but he was ornery too, BUT was a good person behind the old codger facade.
 
I was told by a friend that they had reported engine #4 had gone down, but someone on the ground said it was #3. That plane can fly on 2 if conditions are right. BUT (guess here) if both #3 and #4 went down I could definitely see how that would cause a HUGE issue. Or if only one went down and they banked it too hard/slow and stalled it. But the way the articles read it went off the runway, which would give the impression it was on the runway in one piece and not a nosedive to the crash site.
 
Oh when I saw it this am there was nothing about deaths just a crash. Very sad for all evolved.
 
Old guy is Mac. Young guy is Gary, who is the one that got me on the volunteer list. Gary was the co-pilot with Mac on some of the flights I was on the b-17.

@CasterTroy see what I mean about him reminding me of my dad? Put another 10 years on my dad and they could have been brothers...
 

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crap, just saw the news on this. Still not reporting fatalities. That's a shame.
 
Audio from airport

More info and pics from an airport worker:

3 crew, 10 pax onboard.

VAS link above says 2 FF on ground killed (edit...CNN (I know, I know) says 2 FF were passengers)
 
Probably has nothing to do with any of this, but yesterday afternoon I was out in the yard and heard 1 planes..one was popping/ backfiring and cutting out badly. I couldn't see them through the trees but it sounded bad.

This was over mocksville.
 
kaiser715 said:
Audio from airport

More info and pics from an airport worker:

3 crew, 10 pax onboard.

VAS link above says 2 FF on ground killed (edit...CNN (I know, I know) says 2 FF were passengers)
Click to expand...

That audio was tough to listen to.
 
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The NTSB will not provide a probable cause while conducting its investigation, Homendy said.

“We know that the crew circled back to Runway 6 and attempted to land on Runway 6,” she said. “They impacted the instrument landing system stanchions, the plane veered to the right, crossed over a grassy area, crossed over the taxiway and impacted a de-icing facility.”
 
So maybe they just went off the runway a little, hit something that made them veer WAY off? They have had engines go down before so landing with an engine down should not have been an issue (if two went down that might be another story).

No matter the reason it sucks. I wasn't close to any of those people but it has been on my mind all day.
 
Sad to see a lost of life. Has anybody been to Rhinebeck aerodrome NY? They fly the WW I planes FIL went an took the plane ride. Said WW I pilots are either drunk or clank when walking.
 
I'm really hating the media even more right now. Saw them saying stuff about should these planes even be in the air. GRRRRR.... It's our history. It helped win WWII. Walking across a street can get you killed....
 
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