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Wing walker’s plane crashes at Dayton Air Show

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DAYTON — Wing walker Jane Wicker’s plane has crashed as she sat on top of the 450 HP Stearman. (www.daytondailynews.com) More...

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flightcheck84
I was there when it happened. We were close enough to feel the ground shake as they impacted and the heat from the fire. Thats the second time I've seen a fatal crash there.
btweston
btweston 2
Grody
trickie
John Smith 4
I am dreading the next bit of news about this...
sparkie624
sparkie624 9
Looks like he was alittle too slow and stalled it... What ever the news reports, it will be bad and distorted. They know nothing about the facts of avaition and every little item is big to them...
TMcDonnell
Gotta love the clueless media, seems they do that with every story. Just look at thier reports on the NMAC in Ny.
flightcheck84
It looked like one of the aileron control cables snapped. There was another angle on the videos that I saw that showed him applying full right rudder and aileron. But the ailerons weren't responding.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Interesting angle. Will have to check that out... I hope that is not what happened. To me it looked like he got off center, too slow, corrected with the rudder, and was too slow for Ailerons to respond.
btweston
btweston -1
So how's life in the cave treating you?
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
See Video on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDPySZfLHGU
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
Too late. Moved NFA
jamescagney2000
http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/news/loss-of-lift-may-have-caused-fatal-crash/nYTMC/?icmp=daytondaily_internallink_textlink_apr2013_daytondailystubtomydaytondaily_launch

This is from 6/24 - a fairly detailed analysis on the cause of the crash - basically confirming what a lot of others have posted on this thread.
Darrens
Darren Shields 2
That was a stall for sure. It looked like he was going to stall when he first rolled inverted but when he tried to roll back the a/C departed controlled flight and snapped violently into the ground.
AABABY
AABABY 3
Did anyone see the burst of smoke from the engine cowling area? Just after going inverted. If you look close. (At about 29 seconds in the video I saw)
CBS This Morning commented that someone noticed an engine sound anomaly. Misfire or backfire?
My thoughts are with them both and their families.
Moviela
Ric Wernicke 2
Horrible.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e5_1371922689
TFdude15
Sean Antill 2
I saw them at the Manassas Airshow last month. Very sad.
MimosaDrive
MimosaDrive 1
Was she supposed to be at the edge of the wing? That would make a pretty off balance loading righ?
oowmmr
oowmmr 1
That SUCKS!! Hideous.
chalet
chalet 1
She was not wearing a parachute, not that it would have saved her life but a sudden gust or miscalculation when trying to grab a handle or tube would mean absolute death.
jdmille2
jdmille2 1
so sad... but as an aerobatic pilot watching the video, i can't quite understand *why* it happened. at the inverted, it looks ok, tho descending perhaps more than i'd like to see, but then when rolling upright, it's like no top rudder - wtf?
bizjets101
biz jets 6
Pilot rolls inverted, a touch slow. Accident starts there.

Wingwalker is now on top (low pressure) of wing when
inverted. Because of slow speed, you can see the aircraft
sink inverted, and the pilot has no choice except to push
after rolling inverted to maintain altitude. See lift equation.
High AOA results.

Wingwalker disrupted airflow on now top (low pressure)
of wing. Asymmetric stall, wing drop.

From AvCanada partial post by Professional Acrobatic Pilot
AABABY
AABABY 2
biz jets-- See my remark about smoke from the engine above your post. I'm sure that in that critical position and altitude there was not much he could do.
So sad.
RECOR10
RECOR10 1
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2500373364001/
kea001
Tom Kearney 1
Pre-show interview in Dayton - http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/montgomery/jane-wicker-a-life-on-the-wing#.UcYNcPnoArU
KevinBrown
Kevin Brown 2
According to this report her pilot was her "ex-husband". She was also engaged to be married next year to a fellow team-mate next year.

http://wingwalkwedding.com/index.html
KevinBrown
Kevin Brown 2
UPDATE: Contrary to what was reported in pre-show interview - Jane Wicker's ex-husband - Kirk Wicker was NOT the pilot flying today.
HunterTS4
Toby Sharp 0
So odd
sparkie624
sparkie624 0
Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDPySZfLHGU

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