Preliminary NTSB Report on the Oshkosh P51 Crash Released

The following information came in to me by back channel email within the
last several minutes from a friend in the P51 Community.
I had just posted on the Mustang thread asking for patience in
speculating about this accident.
Anyway, here is the official word from the NTSB.
Dudley Henriques





NTSB: Pilots Weren't In Formation In OSH Landing Accident
Thu, 02 Aug '07
Says Race Aircraft Were Landing Separately

The National Transportation Safety Board released Wednesday its
Preliminary Report on last Friday's tragic landing accident at Wittman
Field in Oshkosh, WI during AirVenture 2007.
As ANN reported, pilot Gerard Beck was killed when his P-51A -- which he
built himself, using North American's original plans and blueprints --
struck the tail of a P-51D that had just touched down on runway 36 at
Wittman Field. Both aircraft had participated in a simulated air race
demonstration.

The prelim -- which follows, unedited but for formatting, below -- notes
the aircraft were not attempting a formation landing, as many had
speculated. Rather, it appears Beck may not have seen the P-51D's
location on the runway, resulting in the landing collision.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain
errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final
report has been completed.

On July 27, 2007, at 1519 central daylight time, a North American P51-D,
Mustang, N151RJ, sustained substantial damage during landing when it was
struck in the empennage and fuselage by an amateur-built Beck P-51A,
Mustang, N8082U. N151RJ had just landed on runway 36 (8,002 feet by 150
feet, grooved concrete) at the Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, and was starting its landing roll when N8082U struck its
empennage and fuselage.
The collision with N8082U pushed N151RJ onto its nose, and N151RJ
subsequently skidded down the runway and came to rest about 788 feet
from the initial impact point. N8082U was still airborne at the time of
the collision, and it rolled over to the right of the aft fuselage of
N151RJ and impacted the terrain in a wings level, inverted attitude. The
pilot in N151RJ was not injured, and the pilot in N8082U received fatal
injuries.
Both Mustang airplanes departed from OSH as part of a five-aircraft air
race demonstration event at the EAA AirVenture 2007 air show. The
demonstration air race was completed and the five aircraft were in the
process of landing separately, and not in formation, on runway 36.