Mid-air at Duxford, Pilots ok

[Speedy]

I would still like to hear WHY he decided to get out...as to whether the controls were jammed or severed or what, in the couple of seconds before he jettisoned the canopy, he felt that made him decide.

Not in ANY WAY questioning the decision...just the pilot in me is curious as to what he felt. Because knowing me, I probably wouldn't have had the whereabouts to get out as quickly as he did.

So amazed that everyone was okay...even the Skyraider pilot for continuing the right hand roll after the impact and straightening it all out. As I replied in another post...Douglas sure builds a nice stout airplane to lose the wing at the folding joint and still have roll-control!

Oh...and absolute props to the British accent comment. Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed on the blonde anchorwoman was the ring on her finger. CURSES....foiled again.

[Ztex]

the first thing I noticed on the blonde...was the ring...

You got your priorities all wrong there son....

[Chappie]

I'll bet if/when Davies sits down and talks through the entire incident it would take him 10 minutes to describe it. I'll bet it all unfolded in slow motion from his perspective. Being a pilot too, I'd like to hear his thought process to get a small (repeat small) idea of what it was like in the cockpit.

Chappie

[Dudley Henriques]

I would still like to hear WHY he decided to get out...as to whether the controls were jammed or severed or what, in the couple of seconds before he jettisoned the canopy, he felt that made him decide.

Not in ANY WAY questioning the decision...just the pilot in me is curious as to what he felt. Because knowing me, I probably wouldn't have had the whereabouts to get out as quickly as he did.

Pilots who fly in the display environment with high performance aircraft ,either have going in based on past experience, or develop as experience is gained, a sense for what is survivable and what isn't survivable. In other words when something like this happens to a pilot like Davies, it's an instant mental evaluation that short circuits the normal reasoning process and reaches a conclusion. The way I've always explained it is that through experience you have placed in your subconscious a laundry list of unsurvivable scenarios. Impact evaluation fits exactly into this short circuit trigger response. Davies felt the impact in the Mustang and the Spad driver felt the impact as it affected HIS airplane. Each felt the impact differently and each impact triggered individual response paths.
I have no doubt whatsoever that the instant Davies was hit he KNEW the hit was fatal. He would have initiated immediately the process of leaving the airplane even as he was "feeling the controls for proper response. These things would be done simultaneously. The only thing that would stop the process of leaving the aircraft would be a "felt" PROPER response from the controls that indicated survival was possible.
Not getting that.......and this would be happening in scant seconds.........egress would proceed as initiated.
The variables in a situation like this one all come together at once.
Davies survived because he reacted based on his vast experience. A pilot with lesser experience might not have survived the slim time line.
Bottom line here is that Davies literally multitasked his decision process rather than following a linear series decision path. It was his ability to do this that saved his life.
In low altitude display flying of any kind you either have the experience to deal with something like this incident at the instant it occurs or you don't. Davies had that experience.

[spookythecat]

With such little time to make a life or death decision and not knowing exactly what is going on with the rear of the plane, controls working or not, he definitely made the right decision. For all he knew the tail may have been on the verge of tearing off and that doesn't leave much for options as you get lower to the ground.

[WallyB]

Not in ANY WAY questioning the decision...just the pilot in me is curious as to what he felt. Because knowing me, I probably wouldn't have had the whereabouts to get out as quickly as he did.

Me too (with the same rider). The videos are too distant to see exactly what damage was done to P-51 but it didn't appear to be coming apart and I didn't see any damage to the control surfaces or the engine. There may of course have been some so I'll wait for the AAIB report. Hope someone posts when it's released.

I take your point(s) Dudley.

How many airplanes have ended up in that particular field now, I wonder ?

[ZRX61]

Me too (with the same rider). The videos are too distant to see exactly what damage was done to P-51 but it didn't appear to be coming apart and I didn't see any damage to the control surfaces or the engine. There may of course have been some so I'll wait for the AAIB report. Hope someone posts when it's released.

That big dent from the impact right behind the rad is where the control cables run....

[Jack Cook]

We had a A-6 pilot in our squadron once who took a cold cat shot in a KA-6D.
He said he delayed punching out because he was convinced he could fly it out.
He cleaned the racks and even with the BN screaming at him to eject he kept
trying to fly it out. The BN ejected and was killed and he finally went out 2-3 seconds
before it hit ejecting parallel with the water and escaped with a broken back. He
said he'd never make that mistake again if the he was put in the same situation.

[Obergrafeter]

Is there a handle to eject the canopy, or just rolling it back at speed take it off? Amazing sequence and expert flying on his part!

[Bradburger]

For those not in the UK, here's a transcription of Rob Davies account of what happend, from his interview with Meridian Tonight: -

http://www.itv.com/meridian-east/pilots ... ayer27375/

"As the elements where coming into land, I was leading the 3rd element in the first section, and as I broke to land, the number two broke a little early and turned in tight so he couldn't see me anymore and he hit me with his wing and damaged my aircraft, and also damaged his own Aircraft.

The other gentleman with the Skyraider lost a lot of his wing but was able to recover it and managed to land at high speed, but my aircraft was crippled in pitch, so I manged to jettison the canopy and I thought that maybe I could belly land it into some farmland, but it had no pitch control, so eventually it started to go down and I had to bail out".

Cheers

Paul

[Jack Cook]

Is there a handle to eject the canopy

the canopy jet handle is on the right side just aft of the windscreen.
It's painted RED

[C VEICH]

As I replied in another post...Douglas sure builds a nice stout airplane to lose the wing at the folding joint and still have roll-control!

No doubt about the 'raider being stout but, just to be clear, the damage to the wing was quite a bit outboard of the wing fold. Had it been at the wing fold we would be having a much different conversation I'm afraid.

[gary1954]

This could have been so, so much worse. God is good.

Amen Brother. Amen

[gary1954]

Coming home on a wing and a prayer.

PeterA

WOW! this pilot should get a Broken Wing Award for saving this airframe.

[p51]

With such little time to make a life or death decision and not knowing exactly what is going on with the rear of the plane, controls working or not, he definitely made the right decision. For all he knew the tail may have been on the verge of tearing off and that doesn't leave much for options as you get lower to the ground.

No doubt about that. This falls under the same heading of the recent B-17 incident, but in this case the pilot had ZERO time to come to a conclusion and made a call that certainly led to the destruction of the aircraft but saved the crew. Even though we hate to see a WW2 plane become so much scrap metal, what happened in each case was the right call. The Mustang pilot had no time to get eyes from someone else, very limited space between aircraft and terra firma (you know, that large thing that kills airplanes when they get to close to it at high speeds) and only experience to judge if he can ride it out or call it quits.
I’m just glad that he had no back-seater with him. In such a case, I can’t imagine an airplane fan without that level of instinct or training could have gotten out in time, and some pilots might not have hit the silk knowing that, which could have killed both people. I’m reminded of my own Mustang ride many moons ago. I had my A-2 jacket at my feet (it was summertime in Florida, you wouldn’t have worn it either) and a camera bag with video/still cameras with me, which probably would have caused all kinds of grief had the pilot then had to pop the canopy. And no way I would have reacted that fast in such a case, not at that stage of my life. Maybe now, having dealt with some high-stress issues for Uncle Sam, but no way back then. Neither would anyone else had they been there in the air at Duxford.