Diminished Visibility, Breakdown In Communications, And Inadequate Briefing Contributed

The National Transportation Safety Board released the final report this past week on the fatal landing accident between a P-51A and P-51D Mustang on July 27, 2007 at the 2007 AirVenture Oshkosh airshow at Witman Field.

As reported by ANN, Gerard S. Beck of Wahpeton, ND was flying the green-winged P-51A that apparently collided with a P-51D, flown by Casey Odegaard, as both aircraft came in to land at 1517 CDT on July 27 following a simulated air race performance during the airshow. Beck's plane flipped as the aircrafts' wings touched, and the P-51A impacted the ground in an inverted attitude.

Beck was killed in the accident. Odegaard was able to exit his plane under his own power after it came to rest on its nose, about 50 yards ahead of the wreckage of Beck's aircraft.

The NTSB report stated as the five aircraft in the demonstration were recovering there was confusion over the landing intentions of the P-51A. Odegaard in the P-51D reported he thought the pilot of P-51A was departing the pattern and not landing at OSH as he was established on a downwind, however the P-51A was observed on a base leg at about 1,000 feet on a southwesterly heading with its gear and flaps retracted as the P-51D turned base. As the P-51D turned final, the P-51A also turned inbound for landing behind it and transmitted "Precious Metal, one mile final," but Odegaard did not hear the transmission.

Interviews with the air race demonstration pilots revealed there was confusion concerning the information discussed in the team brief prior to the race. The team representative reported that he briefed that the P-51D flown by Odegaard should land first, but two of the race pilots reported that they did not hear that discussed in the brief.

There was also confusion on the intentions of the P-51A as the team representative briefed that it intended to land, refuel, take on a passenger, and then depart OSH for another nearby airport – not depart the pattern as Odegaard thought.

As the Federal Aviation Administration had "waivered" the airspace, the show Air Boss was declared responsible for the show operations, but not responsible for providing aircraft separation. The Air Boss did not observe the two P-51's on short final, because his attention was on an airplane taxiing near the air show center. No warning was given to the pilots concerning the lack of separation between the airplanes.

The NTSB concluded the probable cause of the collision to be the failure of the P-51A pilot to maintain clearance from the P-51D due to an inadequate visual lookout. Contributing factors to the accident included restricted forward visibility of the P-51A, the air race team representative's inadequate flight brief, the failure of the air boss to recognize the lack of separation between the airplanes on short final, and the diminished air/ground radio communications during the air show.

Aero-TV's On-Scene Report From Oshkosh 2007 (07.28.07)

FMI: Read The Probable Cause Report