Red Bull Air Race Practice Crash

[Chris Card]

Adilson Kindlemann crashes during practice for the Red Bull Air race in the Swan river, South Perth.  Some great video footage.

 

Red Bull Plane Crash

[Chris Card]

Onboard video here:  View from tail of crashed Red Bull plane

[James40]

Ooof, it looked bad once he'd gone past the vertical at that height.

 

Amazing flying at the air races but something like that is going to happen eventually

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

If the sound on the video is that plane, then it sounds like the engine dies in the chicane?

Looks like he manages to get it in to wind and wings level before hitting the water, where the U/c drag flips it onto it's back.

By all accounts he's OK, that's the main thing. 

 

[Dusty]

Glad he is ok in hospital and doing well! Lucky lucky man..

 

Rumour has it James and his C-17 are a replacement

[Bob Cotsford]

I wonder if it was a downwind turn

Minor injuries - it could have been a lot worse.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

My impression is that it looks like he pulled too hard and stalled it (note the wings buffeting in the slow motion version of the on-board camera) - virtually no forward speed at impact which is what saved him. It seems to start slipping vertically then falls back to horizontal viewed from outside.

Edited By Martin Harris on 15/04/2010 23:03:47

[John Privett]

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 15/04/2010 21:04:17:

I wonder if it was a downwind turn

 Oh heck - don't get started on that old chestnut! 

Posted by Martin Harris on 15/04/2010 23:00:33:
My impression is that it looks like he pulled too hard and stalled it (note the wings buffeting in the slow motion version of the on-board camera) - virtually no forward speed at impact which is what saved him. It seems to start slipping vertically then falls back to horizontal viewed from outside.

Edited By Martin Harris on 15/04/2010 23:03:47

 That's certainly how it looks to me too.  I've crashed the odd model or two in exactly that way as well...

[Chris Card]

Agreed on the high speed stall.  It's a wonder they don't have more accidents the way they throw those planes around in the Red Bull races, entertaining to watch though.  I wonder what the excess on his insurance is.

[James40]

I'm sure pilots of that calibre would recognise buffet and deal with it, it could well have been a faulty engine ? 

I'll do some searching on PPRUNE and see if it's mentioned.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

There's plenty of discussion on Prune but I'm sticking with my impression that it was a high speed stall.  This video reinforces my opinion

 

 

The buffet has been observed by posters on Prune but it was so transitory that you can only spot it on the slow motion version.  This is very different to the classic stall training demonstration where airspeed is reduced at maybe one knot per second so that the buffet can be felt by the student so that he will recognise it in a typical speed decaying situation.

 

In this case, a high speed stall while manouevering in a high G state would snap instantaneously and recovery actions would be instinctive.  In fact, still photos show the elevator very much up with the nose high immediately prior to impact and the fact that the (admittedly immensely strong carbon fibre) airfame is largely intact after the impact suggests a fairly low airspeed on hitting the water.

 

As one poster on Prune observed, an engine failure would have resulted in any highly experienced and competent pilot immediately levelling out and trading speed for height instead of continuing with the course. The engine sound does seem to suddenly fade out on the video but I'm not sure whether this is a red herring...

Edited By Martin Harris on 16/04/2010 20:31:32

[James40]

Oooh Sheeet ! 

 

I think that sums it up nicely

Yep I agree it was a stall look at his ailerons as he tries to recover, they have very little authority on roll as the wing is stalled.

Seems strange that it's a high speed stall when he almost belly flops at a standstill into the water ?

The engine does go very quiet in the last part of the chicane, you'd think he'd be on the throttle during such a tight maneuver but like you say, could be a red herring ?

[Pete B]

If you imagine he is pulling 8-10g in that turn, then the wing loading will increase accordingly.

 

If you increase the wing loading, as we modellers know, the wing has to travel faster to provide the necessary lift to work.

 

I believe the wing said to itself, That's enough for me", and stopped working.........that's why it dropped out of the sky with virtually no forward speed. If you look closely, there's a slight kick downwards of the tail just as he straightens out from the over-90 degree turn and, fortunately, there must have been just enough aileron authority left for him to turn it to the horizontal before splashdown.

Lucky chap!

 

Pete