Air Show Crash at CAF Dallas Air Show

[jond41403]

On the articles I have read about it, alot of people seem to be commenting on the low visibility of the KingCobra aircrafts cockpit so it is entirely possible he did not see the B-17. Completely tragic all the way around

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[GeeRam]

On the articles I have read about it, alot of people seem to be commenting on the low visibility of the KingCobra aircrafts cockpit so it is entirely possible he did not see the B-17.

Which is complete red herring, given the P-63 was clearly banking inside the turn, so the B-17 was hidden below the cockpit floor in effect, so the blindspot the B-17 was in was nothing to do with the view out of the cockpit!

I've seen a comment from someone involved that the display airboss cleared the fighters into the lower bomber circuit, as had been the pre-show brief if it was clear to do so, which if true, means the airboss either didn't see/expect the B-17 to be there, or more likely cleared the P-51 through and hadn't seen the smaller front profile of the P-63 following it into the lower circuit as well.....

[Sarge1998]

Which is complete red herring, given the P-63 was clearly banking inside the turn, so the B-17 was hidden below the cockpit floor in effect, so the blindspot the B-17 was in was nothing to do with the view out of the cockpit!

I've seen a comment from someone involved that the display airboss cleared the fighters into the lower bomber circuit, as had been the pre-show brief if it was clear to do so, which if true, means the airboss either didn't see/expect the B-17 to be there, or more likely cleared the P-51 through and hadn't seen the smaller front profile of the P-63 following it into the lower circuit as well.....

IMO this is the person most responsible for the tragedy, not thought out of what can go wrong will go wrong. All three pilots were highly qualified, I'm surprised someone didn't speak up during the pre-flight or while being cleared to enter the altitude at which the planes converged. That airboss/controller should never be allowed to hold that duty again, if it's within your control you are responsible. ALL future air shows should have strict regulations related to multiple aircraft and aircraft types flying in the same relative airspace. These are civilian professionals participating in a weekend hobby. Husband of my wife's HS BFF had VIP tickets to Friday's show but it was rained out, he was rescheduled for Sunday but the event was cancelled after this tragedy. My initial knee jerk reaction was to blame the Aircobra pilot, but I've shifted that to place the responsibility on the event air traffic controller.