P-51D

I started this thread in an aattempt to find out what caused the P-51
accident the 9th of July. So far no additional data except what was in
the NTSB report.

Big John
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On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 20:58:14 -0500, Big John
wrote:

Any further info on this Heavy Iron accident?

Big John
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NTSB

On July 9, 2005, at 1020 central daylight time, a North American
P-51D, N10607, collided with the terrain following a loss of engine
power on takeoff from runway 18 (3,773 feet by 60 feet, concrete) at
the Peterson Municipal Airport (K57), Tarkio, Missouri. The airline
transport rated pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was
substantially damaged. The 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91
personal flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions
without a flight plan. The flight was originating at the time of the
accident.

The pilot reported that he experienced a total loss of engine power on
takeoff. He stated he banked to the left to avoid the 30 foot dike off
the end of the runway. He stated that when he banked the airplane, the
left wing contacted the ground. The airplane then rocked to the right
and the right wing contacted the ground prior to the airplane coming
to rest.

Big John:
My sources have no information as to the cause of the accident. It was
an older engine, however the owner had a reputation for good care.
Vlado

Vlado

First thing I thought of was you when I heard about the accident.
Thank the Lord you weren't involved.

By 'old' do you mean years or hours? After WWII we changed engines
around 300 hours +/-. Some we changed under 100 hours and others a
little over 300. Can't remember any going to 400.

One problem we had was internal coolant seals leaking either from
drying out or ????

They gave each Squadron 5 attrition birds and we rotated them through
the fleet each month. This let us use short time pickling vs long term
pickle/unpickle. Setting for 30 days without flying, a lot of things
would go bad and take extra hours and parts to get flyable again.

What does the average private War Bird now fly a year? 25-50 hours?

Thinking about why engine quit at 50-100 feet:

Bad gas (Jet A)

Taking off on empty tank?

Is there a single point of failure that would take out both mags? I
forget how they are driven.

Looking at the pictures Jay sent me, to repair will probably take a
wing, engine, prop, horizontal stab and massive repair where radiators
were torn out destroying a large section of bottom of fuselage.

Lots of TLC and devotion to that airframe.

Tnx for info.

Fly safe.

Big John
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On 20 Jul 2005 21:09:19 -0700, "vlado" wrote:

Big John:
My sources have no information as to the cause of the accident. It was
an older engine, however the owner had a reputation for good care.
Vlado