Jumbo Tanker Accident

Richard Riley wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:31:48 -0400, "Roger (K8RI)"
wrote:


And I've read (but cannot verify) that more WW2 fighters and pilots
were lost in accidents than in combat. So even the full time
non-wash-out 90 day wonders had their own bad days.

One a day in Tampa Bay!

Think of it this way. Currently the primary training is done
contract. They are expected to earn the PPL in 50 hours if I read
correctly.

IIRC the national average for ordinary, walk in off the streets ab
initio civilian pilot gets his PPL in about 62 hrs. So 50 for an
intelligent, motivated, young student who's doing nothing but is
certainly possible.

It almost always takes less total hours to learn something if you
are in "class" 8 hours a day, every day as oppossed to 1 or 2 hours
once a week or so.


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:04:59 GMT, wrote:


It almost always takes less total hours to learn something if you
are in "class" 8 hours a day, every day as oppossed to 1 or 2 hours
once a week or so.

I flew twice a week and studied hard, with some multi-week weather and
vacation breaks. My check ride was my 47th and 48th total hours
towards my PPL, and I switched from Warriors to a Sundowner @ 20 hrs.
TT. I "taught" my CFI to fly the Sundowner after digesting the POH
and developing checklists and V-speed sheets.

I'm sure a PP-ASEL would go even faster for a young,
studious,"all-day" student.

Peter

I was one of those WWII guys that ended up in a P-51. First got about
10-12 back seat landings in a T-6. Then checked out in the P-40. Then
went to a 51 Squadron and got a briefing from an old head on engine
operation and takeoff and landing speeds and then flew the bird. Don't
remember many accidents on check out in 51. Certainly not like the
original B-26 (one a day in Tampa bay).

Big John
************************************************** ****


On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:23:44 -0500, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote:

Peter Clark wrote:
On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:50:58 -0700, "Gatt"
wrote:


"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...

DOI: 6/18/2005
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT

That's pushing it for a Mustang, isn't it? Licensed in 2005?

Rating(s):
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND
INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE


Isn't the DOI referencing the latest privelege or rating issued? So
he could have been private for 20 years and just now picked up his
AMEL-IA.

Not only that if a pilot gets a new certificate for any reason, like just
wanting one of the plastic ones, the date will be reset.

Also keep in mind that the guys who flew these back in the 40's while
getting shot at usually had less than 2 years experience flying.

Here is an extract from the NTSB report on the P-51 accident.
************************************************** ***********

According to preliminary information provided by Camarillo Air Traffic
Control Tower personnel, the airplane, with the private pilot and a
flight instructor on board, flew into the airport and made a full stop
landing. The flight instructor exited the airplane after informing the
tower that the pilot would be performing his first solo flight in the
airplane. The airplane departed on runway 26, remained in the traffic
pattern and returned for a landing on runway 26. Two controllers
observed the airplane touch down and then become airborne again. At
that point, it appeared to them that the pilot initiated a go around,
and the airplane immediately rolled left and impacted the ground
beside the runway in an inverted position.

************************************************** **************

This describes a classic torque roll with high power, low airspeed and
not leading with enought right rudder to counter the torque

I saw several of these first hand dring my years flying the P-51. We
ended up teaching new checkouts to only use 30 or so inches on go
around (at least until they got some airspeed back up and had enough
rudder to hold the torque).

A bloody shame to lose both the pilot and aircraft.

Big John
*************************************************



On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:09:19 -0500, Big John
wrote:

Peter

I was one of those WWII guys that ended up in a P-51. First got about
10-12 back seat landings in a T-6. Then checked out in the P-40. Then
went to a 51 Squadron and got a briefing from an old head on engine
operation and takeoff and landing speeds and then flew the bird. Don't
remember many accidents on check out in 51. Certainly not like the
original B-26 (one a day in Tampa bay).

Big John
************************************************* *****


On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:23:44 -0500, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote:

Peter Clark wrote:
On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:50:58 -0700, "Gatt"
wrote:


"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...

DOI: 6/18/2005
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT

That's pushing it for a Mustang, isn't it? Licensed in 2005?

Rating(s):
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND
INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE


Isn't the DOI referencing the latest privelege or rating issued? So
he could have been private for 20 years and just now picked up his
AMEL-IA.

Not only that if a pilot gets a new certificate for any reason, like just
wanting one of the plastic ones, the date will be reset.

Also keep in mind that the guys who flew these back in the 40's while
getting shot at usually had less than 2 years experience flying.

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:13:58 -0500, Big John
wrote in :


This describes a classic torque roll with high power, low airspeed and
not leading with enought right rudder to counter the torque

I saw several of these first hand dring my years flying the P-51. We
ended up teaching new checkouts to only use 30 or so inches on go
around (at least until they got some airspeed back up and had enough
rudder to hold the torque).

A bloody shame to lose both the pilot and aircraft.

Thanks for the firsthand information.

So it would appear that either the throttle malfunctioned, the PIC
failed to follow his training, or his instructor failed to adequately
train his student. Have you any idea if the 30" MP limit officially
became part of the check-out syllabus (presuming one exists)?

Has the name of the CFI been disclosed yet? It's a damn tragic shame
regardless of the cause. At least the aircraft can probably be
rebuilt.

Updated story with photo he
http://venturacountystar.com/news/20...o-plane-crash/

http://www.theacorn.com/news/2007/07..._page/004.html
McKittrick was senior vice president of capital markets for
Countrywide Home Loans and for the past two years had been an
assistant football coach for freshmen and sophomores at Oaks
Christian High School.

Hethcock said Michele McKittrick, a personal trainer, runs a
physical education program for middle school students and is also
the conditioning coach for a number of the high school's athletic
teams.

The McKittrick Fitness Center, the school's weight and exercise
room, is named after the family.


http://venturacountystar.com/news/20...is-identified/
McKittrick's wife, Michele, teaches physical fitness at the
school. He also has a son and a daughter who are students there.

Posted by fishnpilot on July 17, 2007 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest
removal)

you are speaking out of turn here, ecarson, with out knowing all
the facts. this pilot had the best instructor a p51 pilot could
have, it takes a special person to be able to even give
instruction in these difficult to fly and sensitive warbirds. he
has at least 30 yrs experience with p51's. he was being thoughtful
and considerate of the public (on the ground) as you mentioned as
well. Camarillo is relatively sparse and has lots of room for
training. furthermore, he (Mckittrick) was given orders to stay in
the pattern and do one circuit to a full stop. no leaving the
pattern. the student had over 37 hrs dual instruction (in this
plane!) at this point and had not shown any bad tendancies. the
problem is, you cannot always predict what a students response
with be to any mistake he may make. you can only hope they use
good common sense as well as their acquired skills to correct it.
sometimes it leads to an unfortunate event such as this, and
unless you know exactly what happened you should not be so quick
to criticise. i have had similar experiences with students in
specilized aircraft and thousands of dual given with a tally of
more 10,000hrs in odd types or non-conventional planes. this
instructor was actually being very cautious in this instance and
knows the plane and pilot well.

Apparently Howie Keefe is based in Camarillo:
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co..._Air_Racer.htm


Pilot photo he http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005116115
McKittrick, 42, a bond trader, an experienced pilot in other
single- and twin-engine aircraft, had purchased the Mustang five
months ago with the intention of entering next year's Reno Air
Races in the high-speed, unlimited aircraft class, according to a
close Ketchum friend of 14 years and fellow P-51 owner-pilot, Bill
Rheinschild.

Rheinschild told the Mountain Express that based on accounts of
witnesses at Camarillo Airport north of Los Angeles, McKittrick
was flying the Mustang¾nicknamed "Lou IV"¾solo for the first time
since taking some 50 hours of dual instruction in the modified,
two-seat former Air Force fighter.

His unidentified instructor had cleared McKittrick for takeoffs
and landings and flying in the airport pattern.

"On landing," Rheinschild said, McKittrick "made a perfect
approach but ballooned (bounced) when his tail wheel touched down
too early."

He said McKittrick "added too much power" on the 1,850-horsepower
Rolls Royce Merlin engine to neutralize the porpoising, which
caused the aircraft to "torque roll." The high-speed aircraft
whipped over into an inverted attitude and immediately crashed,
killing McKittrick instantly. There was no fire.

"Whenever you get into a situation like that," Rheinschild
explained, "it's every aviator's reaction to give it power. But
you can't do it in this kind of airplane."

Rheinschild said McKittrick has owned a single-engine Beech
Bonanza, a twin-engine Beech KingAir C-90 and a World War II T-6
trainer, and had contracted for construction of a Hawker Sea Fury
with complete parts he'd bought.

McKittrick, whose fulltime residence is in Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
had about 1,500 hours of flying experience, Rheinschild said.
Rheinschild is president of a southern California home-building
corporation, but lives in the valley.

The P-51 (later the F-51) was the first U.S. fighter capable of
accompanying World War II heavy bomber raids deep into Europe to
ward off German fighters. The Mustang also was a superb ground
attack aircraft in support of ground troops. McKittrick's Mustang
had the telltale black-and-white wing stripes painted on aircraft
involved in the D-Day Normandy invasion.

He is survived by his wife, Michele, and two children.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Calvary
Christian Church, Westlake, Calif., with a reception following at
Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no
way represent the views of Express Publishing Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura Wells – Reno, Nevada 07/20/07 - 18:22Hi Bill. this is Laura
(formerly Buehn, now Wells, who had the Grumman Albatrosses in
Carson). I am so sorry about the loss of your friend John. I
helped on the ramp at Pylon Racing School this year, and spoke to
him several times. What a nice, polite man he was. He was so
thankful for any help at PRS. He spoke about how excited he was
about the prospect of racing next year. My thoughts are with all
his family and friends. Sincerely, Laura Wells


Pre-mishap photo and discussion he
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...tml#post263019

Discussion:
http://ipilot.com/forum/message.aspx?pid=187405
This gentlemen was already a pilot, and had recently purchased this
plane. He had roughly 30 hrs of flight time in the P-51 aircraft with
an instructor, and the instructor was at the airport and witnessed the
accident...

http://ipilot.com/forum/message.aspx?pid=187452
Doing a search of the FAA database, there are only 5 registerd TF-51s
(two seat variants)and this one wasn't one of them. A check of the N
number of this plane revealed it registered as at F-51D, perhaps just
a registration inaccuracy.

John is correct. This accident has all the markings of a classic torque
out on the go-around. It should be noted that although it looks that
way, the official investigation report is inconclusive at this early
point in time and the accident has not yet been assigned a probable cause.
As for the 30 inches on go-around; no, this is not standard procedure
for the 51. Standard procedure for this airplane is to set the propeller
for 2700RPM on final. This allows up to 46" (METO)of MP for the
go-around if necessary.
This by no means should be misconstrued to indicate that what John said
was incorrect. If you have enough runway you could use 30 inches as was
the directive in John's outfit but this would have had to be by tech
order at Squadron, Group, or Wing level as it was not Dash-1 for the
Mustang.
Dudley Henriques


Larry Dighera wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:13:58 -0500, Big John
wrote in :

This describes a classic torque roll with high power, low airspeed and
not leading with enought right rudder to counter the torque

I saw several of these first hand dring my years flying the P-51. We
ended up teaching new checkouts to only use 30 or so inches on go
around (at least until they got some airspeed back up and had enough
rudder to hold the torque).

A bloody shame to lose both the pilot and aircraft.

Thanks for the firsthand information.

So it would appear that either the throttle malfunctioned, the PIC
failed to follow his training, or his instructor failed to adequately
train his student. Have you any idea if the 30" MP limit officially
became part of the check-out syllabus (presuming one exists)?

Has the name of the CFI been disclosed yet? It's a damn tragic shame
regardless of the cause. At least the aircraft can probably be
rebuilt.

Updated story with photo he
http://venturacountystar.com/news/20...o-plane-crash/

http://www.theacorn.com/news/2007/07..._page/004.html
McKittrick was senior vice president of capital markets for
Countrywide Home Loans and for the past two years had been an
assistant football coach for freshmen and sophomores at Oaks
Christian High School.

Hethcock said Michele McKittrick, a personal trainer, runs a
physical education program for middle school students and is also
the conditioning coach for a number of the high school's athletic
teams.

The McKittrick Fitness Center, the school's weight and exercise
room, is named after the family.


http://venturacountystar.com/news/20...is-identified/
McKittrick's wife, Michele, teaches physical fitness at the
school. He also has a son and a daughter who are students there.

Posted by fishnpilot on July 17, 2007 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest
removal)

you are speaking out of turn here, ecarson, with out knowing all
the facts. this pilot had the best instructor a p51 pilot could
have, it takes a special person to be able to even give
instruction in these difficult to fly and sensitive warbirds. he
has at least 30 yrs experience with p51's. he was being thoughtful
and considerate of the public (on the ground) as you mentioned as
well. Camarillo is relatively sparse and has lots of room for
training. furthermore, he (Mckittrick) was given orders to stay in
the pattern and do one circuit to a full stop. no leaving the
pattern. the student had over 37 hrs dual instruction (in this
plane!) at this point and had not shown any bad tendancies. the
problem is, you cannot always predict what a students response
with be to any mistake he may make. you can only hope they use
good common sense as well as their acquired skills to correct it.
sometimes it leads to an unfortunate event such as this, and
unless you know exactly what happened you should not be so quick
to criticise. i have had similar experiences with students in
specilized aircraft and thousands of dual given with a tally of
more 10,000hrs in odd types or non-conventional planes. this
instructor was actually being very cautious in this instance and
knows the plane and pilot well.

Apparently Howie Keefe is based in Camarillo:
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co..._Air_Racer.htm


Pilot photo he http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005116115
McKittrick, 42, a bond trader, an experienced pilot in other
single- and twin-engine aircraft, had purchased the Mustang five
months ago with the intention of entering next year's Reno Air
Races in the high-speed, unlimited aircraft class, according to a
close Ketchum friend of 14 years and fellow P-51 owner-pilot, Bill
Rheinschild.

Rheinschild told the Mountain Express that based on accounts of
witnesses at Camarillo Airport north of Los Angeles, McKittrick
was flying the Mustang¾nicknamed "Lou IV"¾solo for the first time
since taking some 50 hours of dual instruction in the modified,
two-seat former Air Force fighter.

His unidentified instructor had cleared McKittrick for takeoffs
and landings and flying in the airport pattern.

"On landing," Rheinschild said, McKittrick "made a perfect
approach but ballooned (bounced) when his tail wheel touched down
too early."

He said McKittrick "added too much power" on the 1,850-horsepower
Rolls Royce Merlin engine to neutralize the porpoising, which
caused the aircraft to "torque roll." The high-speed aircraft
whipped over into an inverted attitude and immediately crashed,
killing McKittrick instantly. There was no fire.

"Whenever you get into a situation like that," Rheinschild
explained, "it's every aviator's reaction to give it power. But
you can't do it in this kind of airplane."

Rheinschild said McKittrick has owned a single-engine Beech
Bonanza, a twin-engine Beech KingAir C-90 and a World War II T-6
trainer, and had contracted for construction of a Hawker Sea Fury
with complete parts he'd bought.

McKittrick, whose fulltime residence is in Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
had about 1,500 hours of flying experience, Rheinschild said.
Rheinschild is president of a southern California home-building
corporation, but lives in the valley.

The P-51 (later the F-51) was the first U.S. fighter capable of
accompanying World War II heavy bomber raids deep into Europe to
ward off German fighters. The Mustang also was a superb ground
attack aircraft in support of ground troops. McKittrick's Mustang
had the telltale black-and-white wing stripes painted on aircraft
involved in the D-Day Normandy invasion.

He is survived by his wife, Michele, and two children.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Calvary
Christian Church, Westlake, Calif., with a reception following at
Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no
way represent the views of Express Publishing Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura Wells – Reno, Nevada 07/20/07 - 18:22Hi Bill. this is Laura
(formerly Buehn, now Wells, who had the Grumman Albatrosses in
Carson). I am so sorry about the loss of your friend John. I
helped on the ramp at Pylon Racing School this year, and spoke to
him several times. What a nice, polite man he was. He was so
thankful for any help at PRS. He spoke about how excited he was
about the prospect of racing next year. My thoughts are with all
his family and friends. Sincerely, Laura Wells


Pre-mishap photo and discussion he
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...tml#post263019

Discussion:
http://ipilot.com/forum/message.aspx?pid=187405
This gentlemen was already a pilot, and had recently purchased this
plane. He had roughly 30 hrs of flight time in the P-51 aircraft with
an instructor, and the instructor was at the airport and witnessed the
accident...

http://ipilot.com/forum/message.aspx?pid=187452
Doing a search of the FAA database, there are only 5 registerd TF-51s
(two seat variants)and this one wasn't one of them. A check of the N
number of this plane revealed it registered as at F-51D, perhaps just
a registration inaccuracy.

Comment to a comment to a comment, etc.

Comment was made that bird touched down tail wheel first. I have never
seen a bird that made a 3 point or Navy landing porpoise or bounce. I
still believe that a wheel landing was attempted which if not done
correctly will cause a bounce off main gear and can lead to a porpoise
if pilot further attempts to land on that attempt. Many aircraft after
a bounce off of main wheels, pilot can add a LITTLE power and then
setup a new try at touch down, runway length permitting. However in
many (most) cases of this, it ends up in an accident with a 51 so go
around is the safest course.

The thirty inches I spoke about was a general term for very modest
power application (half power) on go around after a botched landing. I
told the people I checked out to use thirty inches OR SO and explained
why. Actually 20 inches would stabilize the bird and then let you
slowly add more power and accelerate to climb air speed. This was not
a tech order figure even though they cautioned about high power and
low airspeed and not enough rudder on go around. We told new pilots
to only put a medium amount of power to start the go around (bird
would fly OK on 20-30 inches and 3000 rpm) and after under control and
cleaned up, climb power could be added and you could climb out
normally.

Dudley talks about 2700 rpm and 45 inches MP. The birds I flew used
115/145 octane gas (no longer available to the normal war bird) and we
used 3000 rpm and 61 inches for all take offs. Pre landing check, we
put the prop full forward (low pitch position) and on go around the
rpm would go to 3000 rpm with throttle application.

The 45 inches Dudley talks about is based up the octane of fuel
available today and pulling less power is easier on engine and less
out of pocket expense for maintenance and overhaul for the owners.
Uncle Sam paid for my airplane so I flew it like they said )

Last one of these accidents I saw, the pilot (from a sister Sq who
made wheel landings) used to much power on go around and torque rolled
into sandy soil next to runway (did not burn). A group of us ran out
to aircraft and could see pilot trying to dig his way out so we got on
one wing and lifted the bird up to where the cockpit was above ground
(canopy had broken of course) and he fell out and walked away with
hardly a scratch. Some people are like that, lucky as hell.

Again, as Dudley said, the para I quoted from NTSB initial report is
not their final analysis of accident. Year from now and we will
probably get a final.

Again, a bloody shame.

Big John

************************************************** ******


On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:21:36 -0400, Dudley Henriques
wrote:


John is correct. This accident has all the markings of a classic torque
out on the go-around. It should be noted that although it looks that
way, the official investigation report is inconclusive at this early
point in time and the accident has not yet been assigned a probable cause.
As for the 30 inches on go-around; no, this is not standard procedure
for the 51. Standard procedure for this airplane is to set the propeller
for 2700RPM on final. This allows up to 46" (METO)of MP for the
go-around if necessary.
This by no means should be misconstrued to indicate that what John said
was incorrect. If you have enough runway you could use 30 inches as was
the directive in John's outfit but this would have had to be by tech
order at Squadron, Group, or Wing level as it was not Dash-1 for the
Mustang.
Dudley Henriques


Larry Dighera wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:13:58 -0500, Big John
wrote in :

This describes a classic torque roll with high power, low airspeed and
not leading with enought right rudder to counter the torque

I saw several of these first hand dring my years flying the P-51. We
ended up teaching new checkouts to only use 30 or so inches on go
around (at least until they got some airspeed back up and had enough
rudder to hold the torque).

A bloody shame to lose both the pilot and aircraft.

Thanks for the firsthand information.

So it would appear that either the throttle malfunctioned, the PIC
failed to follow his training, or his instructor failed to adequately
train his student. Have you any idea if the 30" MP limit officially
became part of the check-out syllabus (presuming one exists)?

Has the name of the CFI been disclosed yet? It's a damn tragic shame
regardless of the cause. At least the aircraft can probably be
rebuilt.

Updated story with photo he
http://venturacountystar.com/news/20...o-plane-crash/

http://www.theacorn.com/news/2007/07..._page/004.html
McKittrick was senior vice president of capital markets for
Countrywide Home Loans and for the past two years had been an
assistant football coach for freshmen and sophomores at Oaks
Christian High School.

Hethcock said Michele McKittrick, a personal trainer, runs a
physical education program for middle school students and is also
the conditioning coach for a number of the high school's athletic
teams.

The McKittrick Fitness Center, the school's weight and exercise
room, is named after the family.


http://venturacountystar.com/news/20...is-identified/
McKittrick's wife, Michele, teaches physical fitness at the
school. He also has a son and a daughter who are students there.

Posted by fishnpilot on July 17, 2007 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest
removal)

you are speaking out of turn here, ecarson, with out knowing all
the facts. this pilot had the best instructor a p51 pilot could
have, it takes a special person to be able to even give
instruction in these difficult to fly and sensitive warbirds. he
has at least 30 yrs experience with p51's. he was being thoughtful
and considerate of the public (on the ground) as you mentioned as
well. Camarillo is relatively sparse and has lots of room for
training. furthermore, he (Mckittrick) was given orders to stay in
the pattern and do one circuit to a full stop. no leaving the
pattern. the student had over 37 hrs dual instruction (in this
plane!) at this point and had not shown any bad tendancies. the
problem is, you cannot always predict what a students response
with be to any mistake he may make. you can only hope they use
good common sense as well as their acquired skills to correct it.
sometimes it leads to an unfortunate event such as this, and
unless you know exactly what happened you should not be so quick
to criticise. i have had similar experiences with students in
specilized aircraft and thousands of dual given with a tally of
more 10,000hrs in odd types or non-conventional planes. this
instructor was actually being very cautious in this instance and
knows the plane and pilot well.

Apparently Howie Keefe is based in Camarillo:
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co..._Air_Racer.htm


Pilot photo he http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005116115
McKittrick, 42, a bond trader, an experienced pilot in other
single- and twin-engine aircraft, had purchased the Mustang five
months ago with the intention of entering next year's Reno Air
Races in the high-speed, unlimited aircraft class, according to a
close Ketchum friend of 14 years and fellow P-51 owner-pilot, Bill
Rheinschild.

Rheinschild told the Mountain Express that based on accounts of
witnesses at Camarillo Airport north of Los Angeles, McKittrick
was flying the Mustang¾nicknamed "Lou IV"¾solo for the first time
since taking some 50 hours of dual instruction in the modified,
two-seat former Air Force fighter.

His unidentified instructor had cleared McKittrick for takeoffs
and landings and flying in the airport pattern.

"On landing," Rheinschild said, McKittrick "made a perfect
approach but ballooned (bounced) when his tail wheel touched down
too early."

He said McKittrick "added too much power" on the 1,850-horsepower
Rolls Royce Merlin engine to neutralize the porpoising, which
caused the aircraft to "torque roll." The high-speed aircraft
whipped over into an inverted attitude and immediately crashed,
killing McKittrick instantly. There was no fire.

"Whenever you get into a situation like that," Rheinschild
explained, "it's every aviator's reaction to give it power. But
you can't do it in this kind of airplane."

Rheinschild said McKittrick has owned a single-engine Beech
Bonanza, a twin-engine Beech KingAir C-90 and a World War II T-6
trainer, and had contracted for construction of a Hawker Sea Fury
with complete parts he'd bought.

McKittrick, whose fulltime residence is in Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
had about 1,500 hours of flying experience, Rheinschild said.
Rheinschild is president of a southern California home-building
corporation, but lives in the valley.

The P-51 (later the F-51) was the first U.S. fighter capable of
accompanying World War II heavy bomber raids deep into Europe to
ward off German fighters. The Mustang also was a superb ground
attack aircraft in support of ground troops. McKittrick's Mustang
had the telltale black-and-white wing stripes painted on aircraft
involved in the D-Day Normandy invasion.

He is survived by his wife, Michele, and two children.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Calvary
Christian Church, Westlake, Calif., with a reception following at
Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no
way represent the views of Express Publishing Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura Wells – Reno, Nevada 07/20/07 - 18:22Hi Bill. this is Laura
(formerly Buehn, now Wells, who had the Grumman Albatrosses in
Carson). I am so sorry about the loss of your friend John. I
helped on the ramp at Pylon Racing School this year, and spoke to
him several times. What a nice, polite man he was. He was so
thankful for any help at PRS. He spoke about how excited he was
about the prospect of racing next year. My thoughts are with all
his family and friends. Sincerely, Laura Wells


Pre-mishap photo and discussion he
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...tml#post263019

Discussion:
http://ipilot.com/forum/message.aspx?pid=187405
This gentlemen was already a pilot, and had recently purchased this
plane. He had roughly 30 hrs of flight time in the P-51 aircraft with
an instructor, and the instructor was at the airport and witnessed the
accident...

http://ipilot.com/forum/message.aspx?pid=187452
Doing a search of the FAA database, there are only 5 registerd TF-51s
(two seat variants)and this one wasn't one of them. A check of the N
number of this plane revealed it registered as at F-51D, perhaps just
a registration inaccuracy.

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:31:46 -0500, Big John
wrote in :

Last one of these accidents I saw, the pilot (from a sister Sq who
made wheel landings) used to much power on go around and torque rolled
into sandy soil next to runway (did not burn).

Thank you for the firsthand information.

What puzzles me is why, when the PIC finds that he is unable to
control the torque, he doesn't reduce the power? Or is the power
application so swift that there isn't time to react to the torque
roll?

Commercial pilots are taught to apply power smoothly (slowly), it
would seem that there would be time to do that in this sort of
situation. Am I wrong?

Big John wrote:

Dudley talks about 2700 rpm and 45 inches MP. The birds I flew used
115/145 octane gas (no longer available to the normal war bird) and we
used 3000 rpm and 61 inches for all take offs. Pre landing check, we
put the prop full forward (low pitch position) and on go around the
rpm would go to 3000 rpm with throttle application.

The 45 inches Dudley talks about is based up the octane of fuel
available today and pulling less power is easier on engine and less
out of pocket expense for maintenance and overhaul for the owners.
Uncle Sam paid for my airplane so I flew it like they said )


Actually John, the gas difference only applies to maximum power;
dropping max to 55 inches. METO isn't affected. With the "good gas"
normal take off for the 51 is as you guys flew it; 61" and 3000RPM. I
flew it that way as well when the high octane fuel was available.

Normal Dash-1 for the airplane even with the 55 inch power restriction
is still to run the prop up to 2700 on final and then use 46"
recommended for a go-around if needed.

A lot of 51 pilots did as you say and ran the prop all the way up to
3000 and used full power for a go-around but this an option and not
called for in the Dash 1.
With 100 LL gas, the Mustang is restricted to 55 inches and take offs
are done using this power setting with the prop all the way up. METO is
still 46 inches and 2700RPM and is still the recommended setting for a
go around.
Go arounds in the Mustang are fairly standard stuff if handled correctly
after proper training in how to perform them properly.
For training purposes you might want to be stepping up the power through
a go-around transition but sometimes when power is needed on a bounce
recovery you can't step the power. The "secret" to remaining in one
piece in the 51 is to be SMOOTH on the throttle with adequate rudder and
indeed some aileron as needed to control torque. Also on a bounce in a
51, you NEVER let it arc on you so that you end up apexed low and slow
at high AOA. THAT will get you killed!
Normal bounce procedure for the 51 for me anyway (of course I didn't
bounce it in all that much :-) is to neutralize the bounce by flattening
out any tendency to arc upward while maintaining directional control and
play the airspeed vs as little power as necessary to recover the bounce
tail low but on the mains again at the right touchdown speed. If this
can't be done due to the prevailing conditions of the bounce, smooth
power application, right rudder and right aileron should be used
together and extremely smoothly to fly the airplane out of the bounce
and into a go-around transition. I've done these many times in the
Mustang without incident and have always taught that power wasn't what
killed you on a go-around in the 51, but the WAY you used that power.

The right rudder trim setting on the Mustang at 6 degrees right for
takeoff is more to have the airplane trimmed after the initial power
reduction to METO in the climb rather than to help with torque on the
takeoff roll.
The bottom line on all this is that every 51 driver flies the airplane
just a bit differently then the next guy. My recommendation to pilots
moving into the 51 was to fly the airplane by the book and fly it smoothly.
Dudley Henriques

Larry Dighera wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:31:46 -0500, Big John
wrote in :

Last one of these accidents I saw, the pilot (from a sister Sq who
made wheel landings) used to much power on go around and torque rolled
into sandy soil next to runway (did not burn).

Thank you for the firsthand information.

What puzzles me is why, when the PIC finds that he is unable to
control the torque, he doesn't reduce the power? Or is the power
application so swift that there isn't time to react to the torque
roll?

Commercial pilots are taught to apply power smoothly (slowly), it
would seem that there would be time to do that in this sort of
situation. Am I wrong?

No, you're right, and that is exactly how it should be done; quickly but
extremely smoothly, with adequate rudder and aileron applied together.
As for what's "puzzling you"; in these airplanes you don't get the
luxury of finding out you can't control the torque on a go-around. By
that time it's way too late, and reducing the power may not be an option
due to the flight configuration and/or circumstances.
You get one shot in these airplanes to do it right; just one. The way to
control torque in the Mustang is to know exactly the conditions that
will cause the issue and take the proper steps to prevent it from
happening.
Dudley Henriques