Sad news.
lmritger wrote:
How terribly sad, to lose a pilot in what seems such a mundane manner... looks as though it dug in and flipped, the same sort of accident which claimed so many lives during the war, and which killed Harry Doan in his Skyraider several years back.
Indeed. And also the tragic fatal accident of Paul Morgan's Sea Fury at Sywell in 2001, which cost him his life. There was much debate about the removal of the roll over protection structure in the case of Morgan's Sea Fury for the fitment of a second (jump) seat. This is an extract from the AAIB report on that Sea Fury accident:
Quote:
It is understood that prior to its import into the UK from the USA, this aircraft had been modified to
remove protective structures installed by the manufacturer immediately behind the pilot's station,
and which historically have provided pilots with a measure of protection during turn-over type
accidents. This was apparently done in order make space available for the installation of a jump
seat behind the pilot, within the original canopy glazing, allowing a passenger to be carried. A
similarly modified aircraft suffered a fatal landing accident in similar circumstances in the United
States during 1996. However, in both accidents, the aircraft came to rest inverted on unprepared
surfaces and the effectiveness of such a protective structure in these circumstances is not proven.
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... 500974.pdf Without speculating on the cause/s of this crash, in this case the low-back Spitfires do have an armour triangle behind the pilot's head, which I understand is also intended to act as a rollover protection structure; but in this case, the structure was not enough to save the pilot's life. Grass runway operations are in most ways better for aircraft of this type and era, but this is one where there's a significant risk.
Very sad for the pilot's family and numerous others.
My condolences,
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