In article ,
"Kyle Boatright" wrote:

"stol" wrote in message
...
Any posters here have any additional info,,,, CNN was very vague....

Ben.

Elsewhere, I found a video clip of the local (Titusville) EAA President who
witnessed the accident. His summary was that the RV was on a taxiway and
the Velocity departed the runway, and impacted the taxiing RV. The
Velocity's wing went through the RV at canopy height.

KB

The Chapter president you saw was Keith Phillips, president of Chapter
288, Daytona Beach, not the president of the Tutusville Chapter. He is a
retired AF Lt Col, former fighter pilot (F-100, F-101, F-104, F-5) and a
great guy and natural leader.

He was right behind the Velocity, which performed a straight-in between
the RV Flight, which had just landed and Keith's Red Flight (SX-300s).
The accident happened literally in front of his face. Apparently, the
Velocity veered off the runway, the pilot attempted to go around, but
the grass, water and roughness of the median did not allow that. Why
they veered is unknown.

Most of us here have, like many of you, been appalled with the standard
of media reporting of aviation (especially GA) accidents and decided to
do something about it. Keith contacted several TV stations and invited
them to separate briefings here at Spruce Creek.

Here is what he told Fox News:

He explained to them that the briefing consisted of two parts:

1. a pre-brief (in fighter pilot language) explaining the aviation
community's displeasure with the standards of reporting, that it has
been sloppy and unprofessional - especially when they interview some
a$$h**e who says that they were ³performing acrobatics² and
³dive-bombing the place.² First, the term is ³aerobatics² and when dive
bombing takes place, something blows up.

He explained that there is no such thing as an ³uncontrolled airport,²
that there are towered and untowered airports, but both have some type
of control. He also explaind that a tower would not have prevented the
accident.

He explained that the fact that both planes were ³Experimental² had
nothing to do with it either, that it was like being on a street corner
and being hit by a runaway car.

After the pre-brief, he told them that, if they didn't like the
pre-brief, they could pack their gear and go home and that four other
stations had already been briefed.

You saw the result on TV.

I was #2 in a flight of four coming overhead for the break to downwind
when Lead called, ³Everybody GO AROUND! Somebody just went in!² I did
not see the accident, as I was paying attention to Lead, but my
passenger saw the smoke and flames, so we knew that it wasn't good.

We diverted to Titusville, where the cellphones started ringing as soon
as we got on the ground. I later found out who it was.

Bill Hess, the owner and pilot of the RV-8 had built it after retiring
as Chief Pilot for the State of New York, where he was the pilot for
several Governors. Phil Schacht was a retired Northwest Captain.
Reliable witnesses think that both were killed by the impact of the
Velocity's wing on the cockpit of the RV-8. I knew Bill and knew Phil by
sight.

--
Remove _'s from email address to talk to me.