Guest ozzie Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Breaking news tonight on NBN reporting a red biplane down and on fire at Bishops Bridge near Maitland/ Cessnock. Pilot only on board reported deceased. Only details so far.
Happyflyer Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Raa or ga ? Early reports saying possibly aerobatic so should be GA. 1
Roundsounds Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/3198167/pilot-dies-in-bishops-bridge-plane-crash-photos/#slide=15
acro Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 it was the pitts that came up from camden, used to be in dave dents hangar..big radial one :(
kaz3g Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Same as Pip Borrman? http://www.smh.com.au/national/stunt-pilot-plunges-to-his-death-20090225-8hxn.html Kaz 1
Roundsounds Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Acro, the all red one or the red, white and blue one?
kaz3g Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Speedy I wasn't being optimistic...if anything there was a touch of pessimism behind my post. Pip died at Shepparton which is my home base and he is still sorely missed by many friends. Kaz
acro Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 it was red with black and white stripes i think. it was in the rnac hangar at the air show
acro Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 it sounds like it went straight in flat, not spread out, thats all i know, poor bloke
dutchroll Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 it was the pitts that came up from camden, used to be in dave dents hangar..big radial one :( I was flying my Model 12 up there this afternoon and mine is the one which used to be in Dave Dent's hangar at Camden (it was re-assembled there last year after manufacture and importation from the USA). I had landed, put the plane away and was almost home when I was called by the hangar owner who sounded a little stressed (he was not at the airport). My Model 12 is orange, white and blue. The aircraft operating from Maitland was VH-JDZ, an all red Model 12 which used to be at Camden in a different hangar, and I'm somewhat familiar with its history at Camden but it was fairly recently sold to a guy I don't know who was operating it at Maitland. I really don't know much at all about what or with whom it was doing there. I was actually planning on static displaying mine right next to it at the airshow on the weekend but I couldn't get the time off my day job. 1
Roundsounds Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Very pleased to see a post from you Dutch! The description from acro had me a little concerned. Not good news for all involved. 3
dutchroll Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Yeah very sad. The kit manufacturer will be devastated, as will the former owner who spent a massive amount of time building it. Not to mention the family of course.
acro Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 i didnt get a good look, so i assume your pitts is the one with the vb cans dutch?
dutchroll Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 i didnt get a good look, so i assume your pitts is the one with the vb cans dutch? 2 x Fosters cans (greenish ones so yeah they'd look a bit like VB from a distance). And a Tooheys can. The guys at JKE who built it thought the Fosters cans were a nice touch, and they were the only extra-large cans of aussie beer they could find which fit over the exhaust pipes. I put the Tooheys can on the common manifold drain valve under the right side nose cowl but I plan to turf the lot of them in favour of a wheelie drip tray one day. 1 1
old man emu Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Aw sh!t. I knew JDZ real well when I was working for Dave Dent, and I knew the owner/builder too. It was a real lot of airplane, and a lot of hours went into its construction. Having known a few owners of a few Pitts airplanes imported from the States and assembled by Dave Dent I wonder if some of them had wallets making claims that their flying abilities could not fulfil. I know that the owner/builder of JDZ found it to be quite a handful when stepping up from an S type Pitts. OME
Guest ozzie Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 You can see a couple of photos of it on Maitland News facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/maitlandmercury?fref=ts Looks like it was a real work of art.
Roundsounds Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 OME, John sold the aircraft late last year. It's been based in the Hunter since changing hands.
old man emu Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 I knew that JDZ was on the market for some time. I didn't know that it had been sold, or to whom. OME
Guest Maj Millard Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 2 x Fosters cans (greenish ones so yeah they'd look a bit like VB from a distance). And a Tooheys can.The guys at JKE who built it thought the Fosters cans were a nice touch, and they were the only extra-large cans of aussie beer they could find which fit over the exhaust pipes. I put the Tooheys can on the common manifold drain valve under the right side nose cowl but I plan to turf the lot of them in favour of a wheelie drip tray one day. Most radial drivers call them snot buckets............
Guest Maj Millard Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Second (or third) Pitts 12 lost in this country, and at least a couple in the U.S.
dutchroll Posted July 8, 2015 Posted July 8, 2015 Second (or third) Pitts 12 lost in this country, and at least a couple in the U.S. Second in Australia. The previous one entered an inverted spin during vertical aerobatic manoeuvre and failed to recover. Illegally carrying passenger at the time. Hadn't done spinning training to our knowledge. Both killed (no offence intended to anyone who knew the pilot - just stating the facts). Mine is the only one left (the other has not been in a flyable state for quite some time) and the only one here professionally built by the designer/kit manufacturer. There is one more under construction that I know of. Several lost in the USA: - crashed performing unauthorised low level aerobatics. Pilots killed. - one landed on top of a light aircraft lined up for takeoff. Pilots in both aircraft survived. - during low level aerobatic aerobatic display did tumbling manoeuvre, exited in an inverted spin, transitioned to upright spin, failed to recover with the height available. Pilot killed. - fuel starvation on long range flight. Pilot survived. - engine failure after takeoff (possible fuel starvation but it's still being investigated). Pilot survived. One lost in the UK: - attempted something similar to "Cobra" manoeuvre at low level (like the Russian Sukhoi jets do). Pilot seriously injured but survived. They're the ones which roll off the top of my head. The Pitts Model 12 is a high performance aerobatic biplane which does exactly what you tell it to do. The exception to this can be vertical manoeuvres at very slow speed, when the big prop and engine take control a bit. But this is fixed by pulling the throttle back to the stop. Of course it is not resistant to spinning and doesn't care whether it's right way up or upside down, but it will recover with correct control inputs and the standard disclaimers (available altitude, CoG, serviceability, etc). See my Model 12 spinning video on this forum (Student Pilots and Further Learning section). I plan to make some more when I get a chance. 3
Oscar Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 Pip Borman's aircraft was a Pitts 'Sampson', and it was built - to standards that would put Rolls-Royce to shame - by Barrie Manktelow at Toowoomba. It was never designed as an 'Unlimited' aerobatics aircraft, but an Airshow 'Tour de Force'. Immediately prior to his fatal accident, Pip Borman had modified the fuel system - against the specific warnings to NOT so do- of BOTH his LAME and Barrie Manktelow. The crash was a result of the engine failing to continue running. Pip Borman was, by all reports, a great bloke - and very evidently, an excellent aerobatic pilot. However, he was neither an aircraft builder nor an aero-engineer/LAME. In that accident, Australia lost a great bloke, an excellent pilot, and the product of a superb aircraft builder (internationally-recognised and employed as such - you should SEE his latest project, for a US historic aircraft nut!) 1 1 1
acro Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 it spun in...how is that related to an engine failure? it was doing aerobatics at the time
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