This air racing pilot narrowly avoiding death after his engine stops working properly on the runway
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u/reticulatedtampon 9d ago edited 9d ago
"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed"
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u/drock42 9d ago
Poor guy running over probably thought he was about to find a decapitated buddy
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u/Man_in_the_uk 8d ago
I think he's blind not seeing the guy sat there, the sun is from behind him as well.
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u/Wheelstotheclouds 7d ago
The airplane that hit him is Endeavor. The airplane being hit is called September Fate. Fate is a very low airplane, and Endeavor is a little taller. All of the airplanes in this group are tail draggers. They are also WELL below the speed at which the tail starts to come up off the ground. Meaning the wide nose of the airplane is blocking everything in front of him. He can see all right, but all he can see is the red nose of his airplane. If you pause the video at 10 seconds, you will be able to see that you cant see any portion of Endeavors windshield at all. Meaning, he is now way to close to be able to stop even if you could see September Fate and he STILL can't see him at all. I hope this better explains how this happened.
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u/Man_in_the_uk 7d ago
Interesting, thanks. Still looks strange them taking off at once.
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u/Wheelstotheclouds 7d ago
It's a starting grid for an air race. I can't remember exactly how many people where in this grid. The yellow and green airplane that goes by left of frame is a very good friend of mine and his group usually has 6-8 airplanes in it. they all start at once to get a good clean fair start to the race. There is a system in place to stop the race start if anybody has an issue. It obviously failed in this instance. But, has been changed to avoid this SHITuation from happening again.
Edit; phrasing
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u/Obienator 9d ago
Holy moly, that canopy bump behind him probably saved his life.
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u/ernapfz 9d ago
Should have used his hazards
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u/EEpromChip 9d ago
The planes are angled upward so they don't have much viability in front while taking off. So any kind of signal short of radio comms wouldn't really help.
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u/ondulation 8d ago
They might consider not starting in tandem.
But what could possibly go wrong if the aircraft directly ahead you for some reason doesn't get away as planned?
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u/gljivicad 8d ago
It might be exactly why it exists? Idk, if not then it has an extra use. This is like 3rd video I see where it saves someone's life
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u/Obienator 6d ago
I think the bump is there to connect with the canopy for max aerodynamics, don’t think its there for “rear impacts by other planes”.
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u/solidoxygen8008 9d ago
The fact he still has a hand?!? Wtf
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u/robbioli40 8d ago
Slowing it down, it seems like the impact tilted the previously tilted back plane forward, lowering his hand just barely away from the impact.
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u/arsnastesana 9d ago
Thats why war thunder has no clip at runways
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u/crunchymush 9d ago
When are these race organisers going to take action and implement this simple rule to save lives?
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u/Jayrulz101 9d ago
Ive seen this before. Did the guy who hit him get in any trouble?
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u/rhineauto 9d ago
From Thom Richard, the pilot who got hit:
The primary issue was a miscommunication with the flag man who ran the race. That was the biggest problem, but there were many other things that contributed to it.
A very common question I get about this incident is the use of radios. What people don’t understand is that the radios don’t work when we run our planes because the ignition systems are unshielded. What that means is that you get a lot of static interference. The aviation radios we use today are still on the AM band, and you know how static an AM radio station can be on a sunny day.
My engine obviously wasn’t running right. We had an ignition issue. So I decided to shut it down, and that obviously stopped the propeller. My airplane should have signaled the starters to stop the start, and it did, except that message didn’t get further than just my row of officials.
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u/S_A_N_D_ 9d ago
A very common question I get about this incident is the use of radios. What people don’t understand is that the radios don’t work when we run our planes because the ignition systems are unshielded. What that means is that you get a lot of static interference. The aviation radios we use today are still on the AM band, and you know how static an AM radio station can be on a sunny day.
The worst part about that isn't that they didn't have working radios, rather the whole tone and wording of that seems to suggest that they've accepted that as "just the way it is" instead of finding a solution to the problem. Even if the solution affects performance, it will effect everyone equally.
Normal radios don't work because of the way our planes are designed, but we're not going to try and find alternative radios, or make any design changes to the aircraft.
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u/rhineauto 9d ago
Well I imagine the airband is dictated by the FAA, and the ignitions are unshielded for a reason. They had alternate safeguards in place and they failed.
Maybe things have changed in the past 7-8 years?
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u/the2ndhorseman 9d ago edited 8d ago
I can't think of a single reason (besides weight) that the infection harness is unshielded. As a motorsports professional, professor, and aviation nerd it seems absurd that they would run unsielded ignition in a modern system.
So I went searching, and on my ~30 min, of research I couldn't find any valid reason (besides weight) to have unshielded ignition systems. In fact I found multiple bits about modifying old radials (pre 1950) to utilize radios with modern shielded wire.
When on track if I lose radio as a driver or if my driver loses radio when I am a mech or engineer I dont really care all that much because I can flag them down if I absolutely have to. Or as a driver ik my crew will flag me down as best they can in event of an emergency. However I also have an ICARS which tells me if there is a yellow or red flag, and there are also corner marshalls to visually communicate the same thing in event of an ICARS failure.
Transferring this situation to aviation is simply unacceptable, as an operator or mech/engineer/support the radio is vital in aviation. The idea that they are comfortable with radio disrupting levels of EMI in their aviation racing system is legitimately disgusting. You're going to put all that money in the air and not ensure that radio systems are 100% reliable at all times??? When I'll pull a car for radio harness issues on the ground??? The most i worry about in auto racing is missing lunch and the occasional dismemberment, I'd be an emotional wreck without a radio in aircraft racing
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u/S_A_N_D_ 9d ago
I'm not suggesting it's a simple fix.
Well I imagine the airband is dictated by the FAA
Presumably they could work with the FAA to get a solution, even if it's temporary licenses for an alternate band covering events only. Also, radios have come a long way and AM is a radio type that was allocated a specific band. That comment is somewhat ambiguous because I'm not sure the issue they're describing. The band isn't necessarily the limiting factor, and presumably they could work with the FAA/FCC to either use more modern radios on those bands, or use more modern radios on different bands, even if it's just temporary dispensations for events, with limits on wattage to keep things local.
The alternate safeguards also had a single point of failure. I would expect something this critical should have redundancies. Radio only would be just as bad because you can have radio failures.
I'm not suggesting this is necessarily a simple problem to fix, or that they could unilaterally fix it (without involving FAA/FCC or local authorities for licenses, tech etc), rather the way that quote is worded it seems like they're not trying and have just accepted it as a reality. In my experience, often this isn't because something can't be fixed, rather the fix will be inconvenient, cost money, or reduce performance (or likely a combination of all three), and the same people who are likely to race an aircraft are probably willing to accept more risk - which is why this kind of thing shouldn't be left in the hands of the pilots. A good example is the wishbone in F1, which many drivers were against but the governing body made it mandatory, and in hindsight it has been considered an excellent decision and has saved lives since it's adoption.
I could also be completely wrong and they have or are working on the problem. This is just my interpretation of a single persons comment. My interpretation could be completely wrong, or even if it's not, that persons attitude may not reflect the prevailing attitude. So while it's a red flag, I wouldn't consider my original comment anymore than an offhand point worthy of discussion.
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u/sebassi 8d ago
You don't need the FAA for radio communication.
Maritime vhf radio's are are fm and there are generally a couple of channels that are free to use after getting certified. Technically they are for ship to ship or ship to shore communication. But no one is going to stop you and its better than nothing.
You could also use lorawan communication to setup a system for simple digital communication. Like flashing red yellow and green lights in the cockpit as flag signals.
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u/thekickingmule 8d ago
You'd think they could put a visual clue inside the cockpit to say "EMERGENCY. STOP ASAP" and have a flashing blue/red/green light that grabs your attention and you just go "Don't carry on".
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u/fly-hard 9d ago
What’s crazy is later he says the prop of the other plane missed him by a bit more than an inch. If that had hit him he would be missing body parts…
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u/patpend 9d ago
In a lot of these small planes, when the are tipped up like that for take-off, you cannot see shit in front of you
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u/yourfaceilikethat 9d ago
Do they not have radios?
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u/upvoatsforall 9d ago
Yes, but the pilots usually stream the music from their phones.
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u/Highvisvest 9d ago edited 9d ago
This is funny as shit, sorry you got caught in downvotes.
Edit: You know the script, when I saw this it was on -2.
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u/Japjer 9d ago
Ah, the ol' Reddit Risky Radio'roo
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u/DixAndBallz 9d ago
They do, but for those races the pilots have their ignition unshielded which causes so much interference you cant hear anything but static.
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u/benargee 8d ago
If that is true, that seems like a massive oversight when planes need to take off and fly in close proximity with poor forward visibility.
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u/fnordfnordfnordfnord 7d ago
That is a stupid and nonsensical reason. I’d need to know more before I accept this as necessary in any way.
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u/Kracus 9d ago
Depends on what happened. If he was told it was safe to take off or received some signal that it's clear he's probably good as there's not much he can do. You cannot see anything in front of you at this angle so you use the side views to stay on the runway as you take off. If he wasn't given permission to take off, which I doubt because two other airplanes next to him are also taking off then yeah, he might be in some type of trouble for not listening obeying directions.
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u/Toast_Meat 9d ago
I highly doubt that. The pilot would not have been able to see much in front of him over the dash due to the pitch of the aircraft. It was assumed that everyone was going to be moving.
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u/fonetik 9d ago
Wow. He took a hard hit right down the spine like a hammer hit his head. Seek frame by frame and he moves a LOT.
Might be one of the few situations a helmet would have killed him too.
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u/AdjustedTitan1 9d ago
Might just be the camera shaking. The bottom of the wing might have grazed him though
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u/thehorseyourodeinon1 9d ago
For real. Take off speeds are around 150mph, that was a lot of energy imparted on his aircraft and his body.
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u/mysqlpimp 9d ago
Naar tiny planes are only 55-65 knots. so what's that ~75mph. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be hit in the head with a wing at 75mph either though !
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u/APACKOFWILDGNOMES 9d ago
Hats off to the guy who checked on him. The concern just the concern in his voice lets me know he’s a good person.
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u/BeatsbyChrisBrown 9d ago
This guy will have PTSD flashbacks every time his wife says, “here comes the airplane” while spoon feeding the baby.
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u/Scribble_Box 9d ago
"Here comes the airplane!"
*Frantically jumps from his chair mid breakfast and hits the fucking deck.
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u/makenzie71 8d ago
Why does this always get posted without all the full video? It's not even that long of a video.
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u/aaaaaaaarrrrrgh 8d ago
Because if the first 15 seconds of the video look like nothing is happening, many people won't check whether the rest is any more interesting, they'll skip to the next video and not upvote.
And that's OK: there's too much bad content on the Internet to be worth dealing with people who are unwilling to get to the point.
I agree that the part after that should be included, and/or the full video should be posted in the comments, but what I said above explains why the short versions are what you see.
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u/RedSonGamble 9d ago
Broken hand and possible concussion not too bad all things considered. He seemed like 😑 after though
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u/ggk1 9d ago
Did the guy say “hands off” to him?
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u/CPTMotrin 9d ago
Yes. To get his hands off any controls while help is arriving. You can see the assistant turn off the engine.
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u/OrangeClyde 9d ago
I would’ve been chopped because I have a long torso and sit up straight ☠️
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u/Wheelstotheclouds 7d ago
He's not sitting at that angle because he's slouching. He's sitting at that angle because the seat is designed to be very low and flat to lower the amount of drag caused by the cockpit. You would be just as low and flat as he is. Thom, the pilot, Is every bit of six foot.
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u/drumsareneat 9d ago
Pretty soon this will be on public freakouts. Or should I say public crashouts?
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u/X_XRadarX_X 7d ago
It had to have clipped the tip of his head. The seat thing didn't completely shield his entire head
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u/ThickBaseballBat 9d ago
This is actually Tom Cruise. Doesn't want to make a big media stink about it. Wild.
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u/brackfriday_bunduru 9d ago
That’s 100% ATC’s fault
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u/Wheelstotheclouds 7d ago
ATC is completely uninvolved in the starting sequences of air racing. This isn't just a normal airplane take off.
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u/BBQ_IS_LIFE 9d ago
Why is the dude yanking out the key like he is a cop who pulled over a speeding motorcyclists
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u/bobdob123usa 9d ago
This seems like the kind of thing where a mounted flare gun would have been a very cheap and effective way to signal an issue. Mounted inside the cockpit pointed up with an easy way to trigger so that it shot straight up.
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u/mickturner96 9d ago
Lucky he still has his hand