Spitfire crash at an airshow in France

Pilot was removed from the aircraft by a mob of people who, essentially, lifted it off of him.

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I find it more than a bit humorous watching the real thing do something I’ve done countless times in DCS

hope he’s alright.

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Looks like there’s a fine line between pulling back to keep the tail wheel on the ground and pushing forward to let the tail wheel get off the ground! Yikes! Does that plane ALWAYS want to kill you?

He must not have checked his trim setting prior to takeoff.

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Wellllllll the prevailing philosophy in design at the time was to stuff the biggest engine into as narrow a fuselage as possible. Furthermore, the less stable you make the design, the more twitchy and responsive it is. And to make things even better, the theory and computational power necessary to truly understand an aircraft’s dynamic stability wasn’t really there yet (it was mostly a qualitative thing based on test pilot input).

So, for many of the same reasons 600cc and 1000cc Sport motorcycles can be hard to handle- yes. It’s almost certainly going to creep up behind you and make an attempt on your life if you’re not paying attention.

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Does anyone know who the pilot is?
I know at least one frenchman from the Hahnweide air show who flies a Spitfire.

Maybe. It looked as though the right main gear dug into the ground first - perhaps something in the undercarriage broke?

Here’s hoping both pilot and aircraft are repairable.

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Looked like a lot of blood there. I hope the pilot is alright as well as anyone that was hit by the flying propeller parts

Doesn’t seem to bad to the latest news…

Pilot identified as Cédric Ruet that “escaped the frightening accident without serious injuries.” (sic)

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But… but crotchrockets are so much fun! :smiley:

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yeah they are, there’s a thriving industry in Britain that does exactly that, damage doesn’t look too bad. Some paint damage, perhaps a bit of skin damage here and there. The prop is gone obviously, and I would definitely pull the engine apart and give it a thorough roundabout to make sure it does not vibrate itself into many incohesive pieces.

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I got the impression that the right wing is kind of beaten up but I hope I’m wrong.

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Yea, you are right, never saw it from that perspective, I would need to look at the drawings of the torsion box and wing spar before I can comment on that. But “bad” is a good promise to start from.

plenty to salvage though, might be used to get another spit flying!

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True dat.

The pedantic answer is “depends”. The technical answer is, “depends on the state of the crash, visible damage and state of components when entering the shop coupled with the customer demands, bill of work, and manufacturers engineering department.”

So yeah :smiley:

I just bought a 1994 F2! :smiley:

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OK, but I understand that those things are terribly expensive to restore, maintain, and operate, not to mention the fact that Spitfires are national treasures. Until they begin manufacturing them again, I cringe at the thought of loosing one or rendering a Spit, or Hurri for that matter, unflyable.

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Don’t worry, they practically build them up from the ground with sometimes only a tag being a part of the original airframe. Cost is the only prohibitive factor, and I presume the pilots of aircraft like this insure the hell out of it!