Mustang accident

[Sternjaeger II]

The video posted by ElAurens is a bit weird: it starts incredibly well with an accurate analysis of what happened and then rambles on some weird political agenda..

After having waited for reports, gathered enough info and read all of the posts, point of view, talked to other pilots and technicians, here's my 2 cents:


1) The accident obviously happened for a mechanical failure. The pilot was very unlucky to be in a position that because of torque and speed ended up in that horrible vertical dive, Hanna was way luckier when it happened to him.

2) people should be free to do whatever hobby they want to with their money, and if you want to attend, you go watch them at your own risk. It's stupid to attend such a show and never remotely think that you might get killed; if you don't, then natural selection will do its work.

3) they shouldn't ban Reno, it's silly, that is more of a UK methodology "look, it hurts! Let's ban it!", and the guy is spot on in the video when he says that people always want to ban what they have no interest on, without understanding that they're limiting their own freedom.

Having said this, I would still consider the fact that an accident that occurred in more than one occasion because of the same causes should be a warning sign that something needs to be changed.

That's when you go from being free to being irresponsible, because there will be people in the racing circuit that are aware of the issue but will still feel like it's ok to deal with the thrill, disregarding the fact that they might kill themselves, other pilots and the crowd.

Bottom line: they wanna race? Let them race, but it would be fair to have a special experimental category for them, since they're really pushing the boundaries there, it's no garage built microlight.

Uh and to the other armchair experts who started blaming the pilot's age: have the decency at least to say you're sorry to have jumped to such a conclusion, based on a stereotype.


Regarding the use of ballistic parachutes: they're of no use for a machine that is that heavy and that travels at those speeds.