[Peetwo]

Wings over Dallas Midair collision; Airboss audio and transcript released under FOI - 

Courtesy CBS DFW, via Youtube:

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A comment from cornishcactus which IMO absolutely nails it...

cornishcactus
5 days ago (edited)

The Airboss allowed the aircraft to all fly at the same height, he also kept the bombers further out from the crowd at the 1000' line while letting the fighters on the closer line.

As the bombers were making larger turns in the circuit this put the fighters on the inside of the turns so they had to cross the bombers paths to get to that closer crowd line.

This also increased their speed as they had to overtake and worse bank sharper which lowered their visibility.

There's no reason they couldn't have flown two separate circuits with the fighters on the outside at all times as their higher speed would allow them to fly the larger circuit quicker to get the over the flighline timings correct and keep everything together. This also affords the fighters the best view possible of the bombers at all times in turns as they appear above in the canopy and aren't obstructed by the engine, wing or sometimes thicker portion of the canopy hoop frame.

Or you have them separated by half a circuit at all times regardless. . .

Maybe the 'Airboss' (ATC) radio phraseology is standard for warbird air displays in the US but IMO it is nothing more than confusing gobbledygook and as blancoliro, in his summary presentation, states this is the 'smoking gun' in this NTSB AAI..

Plus a couple of comments, which again IMHO absolutely NAILS IT!

leokimvideo
5 days ago (edited)

Totally shocking hearing the cowboy Airboss controlling the aircraft. Explains why this incident happened. Incredibly chilling to hear the confusion building up before the collision. Surely the pilots flying this mayhem had a feeling it was all getting out of control. Sure the show must go on, but look what happens when it's allowed to. Criss cross flying pattern also caused the double helicopter crash in Australia at Sea World.

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Jim Immler
5 days ago

I am a pilot with what I believe are good radio and situational awareness skills.  After listening to that three times I can only hope that I would have exited that pattern asap.  Very chaotic situation.  Somehow all parties got sucked into a very unrealistic situation with the potential for multiple points of failure.  Very sad.  As pilots we always need to evaluate and refuse a sketchy situation before going up.  I hope this never happens again and becomes a catalyst for future training.  My sincerest condolences to all families affected by this.

   

MTF...P2