really sad to see this. Just heart breaking..
really sad to see this. Just heart breaking..
Of course the lives lost are the main thing, but that airplane is irreplaceable, too. 
Wow, that is a tragedy. It sounds like engine(s) failure. It will be interesting to see what the investigation says.
Yes... total tragedy for those on board.. IIRC that plane used to do rides at air shows at Bradley. I've seen it circle my old house many times.. very very sad.
Yeah, just making the news now that I'm seeing. Apparently it was the Nine-O-Nine plane
Really weird. The plane does have 4 engines, so loosing one engine should not be that huge of a deal. Even if the prop does not feather I would think it would have enough power (weight should not be an issue). Clearly it crashed pretty hard if there are that many deaths, those planes land pretty slow.
It sounds like it hit a building when it crashed. And I imagine the avgas they use burns pretty aggressively compared with that high grade kerosene they call jet fuel.
Makes me reconsider my desire for rides in planes that are nearly 80 years old now.
In reply to aircooled :
That B-17 survived three nuclear explosions.
Sad day all around.
Damn.
Looks like 7 have passed now... so sad.
aircooled said:Really weird. The plane does have 4 engines, so loosing one engine should not be that huge of a deal. Even if the prop does not feather I would think it would have enough power (weight should not be an issue). Clearly it crashed pretty hard if there are that many deaths, those planes land pretty slow.
I forget if it was the B17 or the B26, but crashing after losing an engine on takeoff was really common during the war. VMC wasn't really understood, and runways were always too short anyway, so wartime practice was to try to pull the thing into the air as soon as possible, instead of keeping all the gear on the ground until it had reached VMC.
I would assume this wasn't the case this time.
That was the 26. High wing loading and quickened training killed many.
The B-17 is a Piper Cub with 4 engines.
According to the press conference, there was some kind of a mechanical issue shortly after takeoff, they returned to the airport and hit some kind of stanchion on approach. Maximum altitude during the flight was around 800 feet.
This is such a tragedy. I've been on this plane (on the ground) a couple of times. I would imagine some of the people on the flight were paid guests. The fact that we are losing another vintage B-17 is academic. This entire episode is tragic. I am so sorry for all the occupants. I'll repeat ... this is such a tragedy.
The really odd thing (to me) is that I was in my cardiologist's patient room this morning at around the same time this tragedy took place. Here's the wierd thing. He's an Air Force medical vet. I was reading his historic airplane calendar at around 10:00 ... and it was a B-17G on the page. This was very, very ironic. I still feel terrible about this.
johndej said:Yeah, just making the news now that I'm seeing. Apparently it was the Nine-O-Nine plane
According to the article it was painted to look like that plane
I paid for a ride on that plane a few years ago. It was an amazing bucket list event.
I'm a supporter of the Collins Foundation that owned and operated the plane. This accident is such a tragedy.
My dad was in the motorpool next to the end of the runway on Oahu, when a B26 lost power on takeoff, passing right over him at about 25 feet.
He said he made eye contact with some of the crew as it went over.
The pilot tried to make it to a pineapple field right beyond the runway, but didn't make it. They went nose first into the side of the irrigation canal.
Full load of fuel, full load of bombs. The fire totally melted the remaining pieces of the airplane to a stream of aluminum in the bottom of the canal.
In my mind, I always think of the B-17 as the almost indestructible aircraft that got so many crews back to England despite incredible damage.
I suppose that we visualize flying through our contemporary experience, forgetting the state of the 1930s technology. Old airplanes, old cars, no matter how well maintained...
I'm sad for the loss of this historical airplane, but the loss of lives is tragic.
This isn't the same airplane, but it's one that's currently flying.
Saw the news this morning, looks like the original problem was an engine fire:
"What is the reason for coming back?" the controller asked.
"You got No. 4 engine. We'd like to return, and blow it out," another pilot in the aircraft said.
From here: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/connecticut-b17-plane-crash/index.html
Then they hit an ILS post (possibly due to a control failure related to the fire?) while trying to land and it all went downhill quickly from there...
All that I have learned is based on third and fourth hand information. If it was a fire it could easily burn the control cables or more likely the attachment points for the cables very quickly. Even if you feather and secure the failed engine fire is nasty.
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