"Terry" wrote in message news:T9qBd.10480

From the hangar the "thug" was heard but you could not see the
airplane lying upside down about 1/4 mile away.

How does something like this happen?

Terry, thank you for posting this for all of us. Hopefully each pilot here
will take it to heart and apply it as a learning experience. Having said
that, even if you're an eyewitness it's probably best to wait for the NTSB
report to find out what happened.

I had a similar experience with Jeff Ethell. We'd just finished filming the
P-38 segment of his series and getting ready to do the next segment when he
went out for a veterans reunion in a P-38 and crashed away from the field.
His father, who flew 38s in combat, was at the field reported that Jeff came
over with an engine out and was flying too slow for that condition.

Turns out he had a problem with a worn fuel selector detent (he -points out
the very problem- in the video) which caused starvation of one engine, and
ended up in a flat spin trying to bring it home. People speculated as to
the cause right up until the NTSB determination, and I don't recall anybody
correctly identifying the problem until then.

Why somebody would take off into obvious IMC is even more confusing. Please
keep us posted.

-chris gattman
pp-asel-ia