Pitts crash at Avalon airshow 28 March 2025

[Blueadventures]

Sadly a Pitts has crashed at the Avalon air show today.

[BurnieM]

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/plane-crashes-at-avalon-airshow-20250328-p5lney.html

 

[spenaroo]

Looks like it was the bottom of a loop. Hopefully lost most of its energy. Horrible to hear about 

[Thruster88]

High g stall, very lucky to survive that. Why push the limits? 

[rankamateur]

Channel Nine News is reporting that he and several other planes we doing aerobics at the time. I hope now lycra was stretched in this incident. No Cessna was mentioned though.

[Kyle Communications]

That is terrible news. I know Paul Bennet very well. There are a few of his pilots in his team. Jett his son has been up and coming in the aerobatics world. Paul usually flys the Wolf Pitts and Jett I believe is flying the red one. Not sure who was flying the orange one. It has 400hp the same as the Wolf

I now know who the pilot was

I hope he survives all ok 

[Blueadventures]

The plane is believed to have been a part of the Paul Bennett Aerobatics team that crashed during the first public day of the event.

 

[onetrack]

That's one Pitts that's never going to fly again, and I trust the pilot, if he pulls through, hasn't incurred debilitating injuries, that means he will never fly again.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Yes.. best wishes for a speedy and full recovery (pls, no pun intended)..

[ozbear]

Very sad news hope the pilot makes a full recovery 

[facthunter]

Probably would have cleared the ground on a "cooler" day An incorrectly set altimeter can cause this.  ATSB are investigating. Hope the Pilot recovers OK. Nev

[Freizeitpilot]

The PB team are absolute professionals, and all strength to them. Lets hope the pilot fully recovers and is able to get back on the horse.

 

What interests me is how the ATSB chooses which accidents to investigate. I know this has been dealt with elsewhere on this forum, but why this particular accident in what is clearly recognised as a high risk activity, versus others where the cause is a complete mystery and the consequences were even worse ?

I’m not into conspiracy theories but it would be a bad look, if the ATSB said ‘nah, nothing to learn here’ when there were hundreds of witnesses and loads of media around. Ultimately, it would help if there was a publicly available decision matrix from the ATSB that identifies when an investigation is warranted and when one is not, within their limited budget.

I respect the individuals within the ATSB and really do hope they perform a thorough investigation so we and the PB team can all learn and enhance safety further.

[facthunter]

I'd say because it was very Public.  Nev

[facthunter]

For Low level aeros, you use QFE which reads zero when on the ground.  AVALON has an elevation of 35 feet AMSL  Nev

[Blueadventures]

The impact and change of direction bounce is not good.  On the far away video looked like a very hard greaser but close up shows a hit and bounce.  Our internal organs and spine don't like that sort of impact and they can rip away and crush.  Hope pilot makes a 100% recovery and enjoys flying again.

[red750]

For those who haven't seen video, here is a Youtube clip. His condition has been upgraded tp Critical but stable.

 

 

[ClintonB]

 From initial pucs I was sulrised the cockpit was still together. The ground must slope away from.the runway, because I only saw the tail sticking up.

Is the structure any stronger than normal in these like a race car cage?

[jackc]

3 hours ago, red750 said:

For those who haven't seen video, here is a Youtube clip. His condition has been upgraded tp Critical but stable.

 

 

A friend phoned me this afternoon with details sadly he has severe spinal injuries 🤕

[Scotty 1]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1644WuzpE5/

[red750]

Update on pilot injured in Avalon Airshow crash

7NEWS.COM.AU

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Paul Bennet Airshows, for whom Glenn Collins flew, issued a statement on Wednesday evening.