Accident at World Aerobatic Championships

[cgzro]

Forwarding a sad email I just recieved.

From: Michael R. Heuer <mike@mheuer.com>
Subject: [civa-delegates] Sad News from WAC
To: "'CIVA Delegates'" <civa-delegates@fai.org>
Received: Saturday, August 22, 2009, 4:32 PM

Dear Delegates,

I am very sad to announce that during the World Aerobatic Championships here in Silverstone, an accident occurred today that claimed the life of US Team pilot Vicki Cruse. It occurred at about 11.57 local time during Programme Q and in the fifth figure. She was flying a borrowed Edge 540.

It would be inappropriate and improper for me to speculate on the cause of the accident. Vicki was an accomplished pilot and former US National Champion who also attended several of our CIVA meetings and was a dedicated, passionate supporter and promoter of our sport in addition to her piloting skills. I know she was looking forward to seeing you all in Oshkosh in October.

This is a tragedy in so many ways. We have lost three women in the last few weeks who have been with us at recent World Championships, the Americans have lost the leader of their aerobatic organization, and the US Team has lost a teammate and friend.

Sincerely,

Mike Heuer

[Osiris]

This is absolutely horrible.
Vicki was a great person and an incredible asset to the aerobatic community. Such a terrible loss.

[Big Pratt]

You have no idea of the knot I got in my stomach as I started to read your post.
I scanned the article looking for a name.
As tragic as this is, thankfully Melissa is safe.

RIP Vicky.

The margins are close to nil in that business.

[paydaymayday]

May she rest in peace. Unfortunately, as much as we try to maximize safety in aviation, terribly things like this will still happen - hopefully much less than more. It is a calculated risk... as Pratt said, the margins are close to nil in that business. It is still a terrible loss. Fly safe everyone.

[linecrew]

For those that don't know Vicki , here's an ad from Lightspeed headsets that profiled her career obviously prior to the tragic accident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaiajLjRTHs

[bodyflyer]

That youtube video doesn't really say much about her... she learned to fly, was scared, got into aerobatics, eventually won at the nationals, and flies an Edge 540... and the video was produced in a terrible melodramatic style.

How did she get to where she was? Edge 540's don't come cheap.

I recall her from more than a decade back when she was with Captain Zoom / Jim Campbell, and actually came to the annual aviation show in Toronto to promote Jim's aviation magazine.

[Hedley]

The margins are close to nil in that business

Actually, no. This is a very unusual accident - the first fatal
accident that I can recall in at least 30 years during a contest.

The reason for that is because the margins are very large at
a contest - the top of the box is 3500 AGL, the minimum altitude
for Intermediate is 1200 AGL, Advanced is 800 AGL and even
Unlimited is minimum 328 feet, which almost always permits
recovery from incorrectly flown maneuvers.

I shall be very interested to read the final accident report to see
what I can learn from it. The Zivko Edge AFAIK is a superb
monoplane.

[bmc]

My sources tell me the planes control surfaces were intact even after the crash...

She was on a vertical down line, entered a 1 1/4 snap roll when it went wrong, she kept snapping right to the ground. Some of the smaller people or ones with smaller feet have had problems with getting a foot jammed up with a rudder peddle. I know on her plane she made some tweaks to prevent this... Unfortunately this was not her own plane and if this was the case that is a very sad thing... I will miss Vicki so much.

Had a coffee this morning with some of guys competing at the Swiss Nationals and this accident came up. Apparently, she had put blocks on the pedals to better reach them. One of them dislodged and jammed. The plane was belonged to Paul Bonhomme.

[2.5milefinal]

ummm really, she modded the plane with wood(?) blocks.
Is it just me that thinks thats not a good idea.
Did they find these blocks in the plane?

[Hedley]

Rudder pedal extensions have been around for many
years. Bill Finigan used to sell them for the Pitts.

[2.5milefinal]

yup I get that.
I am just hoping pilots are not out there 'ty rapping' blocks to their pedals.