I was thinking that maybe all those guys on the strut blocked the airflow over the elevator and the pilot lost authority or that maybe the lower plane dropped a bunch of weight and the pilot didn't respond appropriately.
Posted: 11/7/2013 7:59:40 AM EDT
[#5]
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Quoted: I was thinking that maybe all those guys on the strut blocked the airflow over the elevator and the pilot lost authority or that maybe the lower plane dropped a bunch of weight and the pilot didn't respond appropriately.
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Or at 12000 feet the drag of those guys caused it to stall?
Posted: 11/8/2013 8:02:12 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote History
Quoted: I was thinking that maybe all those guys on the strut blocked the airflow over the elevator and the pilot lost authority or that maybe the lower plane dropped a bunch of weight and the pilot didn't respond appropriately.
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Unlikely. I've had 3 people out on the right strut of a 182 before and all it took was a little left aileron.
This was caused by an under trained civilian pilot flying formation and having no idea what he was doing. I've seen it before, just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Posted: 11/9/2013 4:57:19 AM EDT
[#7]
On the video his head is turned looking at the skydivers on the struts. There is a tendency, especially among lower experience pilots, for the yoke to follow what you are looking at. That would be my educated guess.
Posted: 11/9/2013 10:47:15 AM EDT
[#8]
The NBC show was quite good about this. Some sensationalism, but I found it a good explanation of the events.
Posted: 11/9/2013 4:35:37 PM EDT
[#9]
They fell short of blaming the pilot, but really that's what it comes down to is pilot error. To fly with another aircraft and lose sight of it is heavy DERP.