T-28B N55500 down in Guatemala

[vernicator]

The aircraft crashed while performing low level aerobatics at a car race. The pilot and mechanic passenger did not survive the accident.

Some may find the videos in the link disturbing: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=222813

Last edited by vernicator on Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Dave Hadfield]

Looping towards the earth during an airshow in vintage types has a certain risk.

A specified gateway of speed, altitude, and attitude are required to complete it. The display pilot has to understand that if you do not have those 3 things, don't commit to the maneuver.

Airshow-itis.

[Iclo]

Basically, same error than with the Hunter in the UK ?

[Tulio]

Not in Venezuela.

It was in Guatemala.


Tulio

[JohnB]

Basically, same error than with the Hunter in the UK ?

The Hunter was pulling out of a loop.
Was this the end of a loop or a flyby...can't tell from the video.

[C VEICH]

Basically, same error than with the Hunter in the UK ?

The Hunter was pulling out of a loop.
Was this the end of a loop or a flyby...can't tell from the video.

Judging from the way the airplane "dished out" at the bottom of the maneuver I don't think it was a simple flyby.

[vernicator]

Not in Venezuela.

It was in Guatemala.


Tulio

Fixed. Thank you.

[Scott Rose]

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/t28regis ... 37716.html

[T J Johansen]

Not in Venezuela.

It was in Guatemala.


Tulio

Any connection between this pilot and Enrique & Roberto Ibarguen, famous for their P-51?

T J

[Tulio]

Yrs.

I think that Enrique was his dad. The Mustang was TG-REI.

Saludos,


Tulio

[Stoney]

I met Enrique years ago at Reno air races and Roberto is his son who I talked to 2 years ago, he said that he was doing air show then. He was a member of NATA. RIP

[marine air]

To me it doesn't look like aerobatics except in the FAA's definition of anything more than 60 degree banks. It looks like he was buzzing the heck out of them and his aggressive flying exceeded his flying ability. The last shot looks like he is really winding it up to make a high speed buzz job and while he is dishing out on the bottom, he misjudged the width of the gap in the trees. He hit the tree on the right very hard. I think the tree on the right is what caused the aircraft to go out of control.
He was trying to make an impression on the people in the stands and he did. A better buzz job would've been to go over the direction of the track instead of towards the tree line.

[Dan Jones]

Looks like a classic example of a pilot killing an airplane.

[Tulio]

I saw just now, a video of the sequence before the accident.

https://youtu.be/WXAnaqouWZM

Looks to me, like he was coming out of a loop, and ran out of airspace. The short video most people have seen, shows the airplane at a high rate of speed, coming out of the dive...

I don't know who took these pictures...

I want to make it clear, that I am not posting these images with any morbid purpose in mind. I have other photos from the accident sent to me, that I will never publish, out of respect for the deceased.


Tulio

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[marine air]

I won't believe it was a loop until I see an entire video. Usually when someone screws up they recognize it coming out of the top of the loop and chop the power, in some cases drop the flaps and get the nose up to a maximum L/D nose high angle. In this case the airspeed indicator indicates he hit the ground going 340 knots (391 mph.) To me, that suggests a full throttle, screaming dive at the ground . Then we he went to pull up the momentum continued the downward path. Had it happen to myself, but wasn't flying nearly as aggressively. I think you guys are giving too much credit to say he knew how to do low level aerobatics.
Honestly, the people in the stands were probably terrified.