Dallas: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress & a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided & crashed with each other. It's unclear how many people were on board both planes

I was told by a pilot many years ago that these WWII bombers ran on leaded fuel and it was increasingly hard to find. I've always wondered if they converted the fuel systems on these aircraft or not. That's a damn shame, but the air cobra clearly did not see the B-17 flying until it was too late. This was the result of pilot error, not an aircraft falling apart mid flight. No reason to ground these aircraft. It's a shame to lose the aircraft, but greater loss is the people who fly and work on them. RIP.

Exactly. It was pilot error, and I would venture to say it was the error of the fighter plane not estimating the speed of the B-17 correctly. From most of the videos that I've seen, on here and in other places, the pilot of the fighter plane appeared to be trying to turn behind it, possibly demonstrating a strafing run on the B-17 and was going too fast, which is why he clipped off the back end of the B-17.

And, for you people who say these planes should have been grounded, or who are thinking that there were passengers on it, you should really read/watch a news report about this. It was an airshow demonstration (passengers are NOT allowed on demonstration flights), and the B-17 was crewed normally (5 people onboard) and the fighter plane had only the pilot in it. And, the aircraft that show up in an airshow are VERY well taken care of, and the maintenance on them is up to date and done well. If it weren't, they wouldn't be allowed to fly in the show.

Yeah. This was a tragedy. Lives were lost and historical artifacts were destroyed. But, we should look more to the people that died in this accident rather than worry about the planes that were lost.

And..................I hate to say it..................but pilot error happens. I remember that our sister squadron (VFA-136) lost a pilot and an FA-18 during a detachment to Fallon. Seems he had his head in the cockpit and missed the mountain coming up in front of him and flew into the ground. It happens. Not very often, but it does happen. Just like you can get distracted looking at things inside your car and end up going off the road, the same thing can happen to a pilot in an aircraft. Only trouble is, instead of doing 30 to 60 mph like a car does, the plane is doing 100 plus in the air, with very little time to react and correct if something bad is gonna happen.

I feel for the people who died and all of their families.
 
Actually, we are both wrong. There are 45 airframes that are complete, worldwide, depending on the year between 7 and 9 are airworthy.

Mkay. You said 45 were airworthy. I said 8 were. You said I'm wrong and said between 7 and 9 are airworthy. That would be 8.

Thanks.
 
Tell that to their FAMILIES



Their families know. Trust me, the aviation world, especially the vintage aviation world, is far different from your world.

People get pushed in front of subways in New York on a frequent basis, THAT is a sucky way to die.

Dying while doing what you love is sad, but it doesn't suck.
 
Exactly. It was pilot error, and I would venture to say it was the error of the fighter plane not estimating the speed of the B-17 correctly. From most of the videos that I've seen, on here and in other places, the pilot of the fighter plane appeared to be trying to turn behind it, possibly demonstrating a strafing run on the B-17 and was going too fast, which is why he clipped off the back end of the B-17.

And, for you people who say these planes should have been grounded, or who are thinking that there were passengers on it, you should really read/watch a news report about this. It was an airshow demonstration (passengers are NOT allowed on demonstration flights), and the B-17 was crewed normally (5 people onboard) and the fighter plane had only the pilot in it. And, the aircraft that show up in an airshow are VERY well taken care of, and the maintenance on them is up to date and done well. If it weren't, they wouldn't be allowed to fly in the show.

Yeah. This was a tragedy. Lives were lost and historical artifacts were destroyed. But, we should look more to the people that died in this accident rather than worry about the planes that were lost.

And..................I hate to say it..................but pilot error happens. I remember that our sister squadron (VFA-136) lost a pilot and an FA-18 during a detachment to Fallon. Seems he had his head in the cockpit and missed the mountain coming up in front of him and flew into the ground. It happens. Not very often, but it does happen. Just like you can get distracted looking at things inside your car and end up going off the road, the same thing can happen to a pilot in an aircraft. Only trouble is, instead of doing 30 to 60 mph like a car does, the plane is doing 100 plus in the air, with very little time to react and correct if something bad is gonna happen.

I feel for the people who died and all of their families.



The B-17 was supposed to line up on the runway, and there were supposed to be two fighters to either side as they made a photo pass.

The pilot of the P-63 got careless and lost spatial awareness, and as he flew in to the pattern he was too fast and didn't realize he had cut inside of the B-17.
 
Mkay. You said 45 were airworthy. I said 8 were. You said I'm wrong and said between 7 and 9 are airworthy. That would be 8.

Thanks.



Pretty much every airframe in a museum is airworthy. Some would require very little work to get them going.

I mean like five days worth of work.

The others I mentioned are "working aircraft" like this one that was tragically lost. On any given year, one or two are down for deep maintenance.
 
Pretty much every airframe in a museum is airworthy. Some would require very little work to get them going.

I mean like five days worth of work.

The others I mentioned are "working aircraft" like this one that was tragically lost. On any given year, one or two are down for deep maintenance.

That is not how you determine if an airplane is airworthy.

It is considered airworthy if it has a current airworthiness certificate. There are 8 currently that remain airworthy.
 
That is not how you determine if an airplane is airworthy.

It is considered airworthy if it has a current airworthiness certificate. There are 8 currently that remain airworthy.



Yeah, I know that. I also know that once the work is done, pretty much every one of those aircraft in a hanger would get a cert.
 
The B-17 was supposed to line up on the runway, and there were supposed to be two fighters to either side as they made a photo pass.

The pilot of the P-63 got careless and lost spatial awareness, and as he flew in to the pattern he was too fast and didn't realize he had cut inside of the B-17.
 

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