P-51 crash at Camarillo: John Deakin's view

[Paul Hirose]

In his current AVweb column, John Deakin writes about the P-51 fatal
accident at Camarillo. There's some info about pilot John
McKittrick -- he had about 1700 hours, owned a King Air and had just
bought the Mustang. It was just out of a major rework. McKittrick "had
already arranged for dual instruction in his new Mustang from Matt
Jackson, a famous Reno Race pilot and a Warbird entrepreneur based in
Van Nuys. He is well-qualified to instruct in the Mustang."

Deakin says that by all reports McKittrick did very well during his
instruction. On his first solo, the touchdown was good, with attitude
slightly tail low just as he'd been trained. After one or two seconds
on the runway the plane pitched down a bit, then suddenly pitched up
hard enough to bang the tail wheel onto the runway. The P-51 bounced
back into the air, McKittrick applied full throttle, and went out of
control.

The cause of this accident was "pilot error caused by half a century
of improper training in the go-around maneuver," says Deakin. He then
goes on at length about why the conventional wisdom sets pilots up for
mishaps.

http://www.avweb.com/news/pelican/pelicans_perch_87_killer_go-arounds_195755-1.html

--
Paul Hirose <jvcmz...@earINVALIDthlink.net>
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