Warbird Information Exchange

Hi, I was watching a programme on tv this morning and on it there was an amateur video clip of a Corsair hitting another plane on take off,shearing his port wing off then cartwheeling knocking the engine off and going on fire.Apparentley the pilot survived ok,but the accident looked quite horrific.Does anyone know what year this happened and was the Corsair rebuilt or any more details,because all the details they gave was that it was at Oshkosh.Thanks

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Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
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Thanks for the prompt reply Zachary,much appreciated.

NTSB reports for the 3 aircraft involved can be found here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 9172&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 9172&key=2

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 9172&key=3

I would stop short of saying that. I think Ladd Doctor (the Corsair pilot) broke his neck, and the last I heard he was a quadraplegic.

I haven't heard any updates on his condition in a long time, though.

It was a pretty savage accident, and one that could have been easily avoided if everyone had just been talking and listening to each other. Real shame.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Well Speedy all I was going by was what was said on the tv,that is why I wanted to find out more hence this post.Sorry to hear that about the pilot.

Not everyone, just one, and that was Ladd, He screwed up then had the nerve to sue the EAA and Howard. I would say he was scum for doing that, but that would be insulting to scum.

I was there when it happened, we were holding short of 27 waiting to lead the T-6s.

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Matt Gunsch, A&P, IA, Warbird maint and restorations
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I saw the whole thing thru the viewfinder of my camera. I did take a couple of pictures but I'm not sure scanning and posting them here would serve any purpose.

I was just trying to be p.c. about it, as there seems to be a lot of backlash on this site when someone makes pointed statements.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

I'd be careful about those quick accusations. Read your insurance policy and pay extra attention to the right of subrogation clause. The short story is the insurance company has the right to try and recover as much money as they can after an accident by suing anyone they think they can recover money from. The right of subrogation says they can sue anyone, in your name, and have their company name completely left out of the legal action. In certain cases this make it look like you are suing people or organizations for inane reasons when you might not want anything to do with it. You don't have a choice in the matter once you have signed the insurance policy.

I have no idea if this is the case with the Corsair crash at OSH or not but the point is that sometimes there is more to it than what we see or hear about. If you have aircraft liability insurance then you should fully understand the policy and especially their right of subrogation.

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I believe there was a cash settlement.

Steve

was the plane a complete loss or did somebody purchase the wreck?

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Anyone blaming the Corsair pilot for this crash, needs to Know the FULL story AND FAA regulations before shooting of their mouths. According to the Warbirds' Air Boss, he had cleared ALL aircraft for takeoff AS "A FLIGHT" (operating as four sections of two) Which means all aircraft takeoff TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME! That's what a "FLIGHT" means. It is common practice for Oshkosh operations to have aircraft takeoff and land several distances apart on the same runway at the same time. The 2-ship Bearcats were first with the Corsiars following. NO WHERE were there any aircraft cleared to "Taxi into position and Hold" Which is a specific clearance and MUST BE OBEYED! BUT the Bearcats did just that- they taxied into position and Stopped (or held in position) While the Corsairs followed the correct clearance given by the Air Boss- Quoting him..."I cleared ALL aircraft to take off AS A FLIGHT" The final cause was the fault of the Bearcats stopping and poor visibility on the Corsair's pilot (Corsairs are tail wheel aircraft with long noses). But obviously a clearance was not obeyed by the Bearcats, which is probably why the Corsair pilot (and/or his insurance co.) has filed the lawsuit.

Ref. NTSB

I haven't flown a Corsair but it doesn't matter, what you just wrote is pure bunk.
It is the pilot in command's total responsibility to make sure that the path ahead is clear before taking off, no matter how long the nose is or how hard it is to see ahead because one is lined up. If there are airplanes ahead, it is the pilot's responsibility to see that they are clear. Other wise, you may have airplanes stopped ahead. Your path may not be clear.
The way to not kill yourself in an airplane is to operate it for yourself, not listen to some third party with a microphone.
The order of responsible operation of an airplane is to;
Aviate= Fly the airplane
Navigate= Keep it going the direction you want the operation to continue
Communicate= Then you can listen to what others have to say, weigh them, and maybe respond to make your intentions clear.

For sure if I was following two old farts in Bearcats, which are high noise environment airplanes, in my own high noise environment airplane, I'd darn well visually see that Howard and Tom were well down the runway before I poured the coals to 'er!
Chris...

Just an FYI from the NTSB report:

"The pilot not following the instructions briefed by the formation leader, and the pilot not maintaining clearance from the formation lead airplane. A factor relating to this accident was the area of restricted visibility in front of the pilot when the airplane sits on its tailwheel"

David