I’ll never forget that day. I live about 2 miles from the airport and had just left the house to see a movie with my wife. I didn’t know about the crash but saw a line of ambulances rushing to the airport. I called our dispatcher to find out if we were on code triage. He said no, but I told my wife to drop me off at the hospital where I worked. About a minute later I was told to come in. Within an hour the ER looked like we were in a war zone. Most of the staff who were working that day, which was literally everyone on staff at the time, are gone now, but the effects never completely disappeared. It permanently changed the people I worked with.
I was 12 when this happened and I was supposed to end up going myself with some friends and family. We all voted against it and went to the coconut bowl instead....
Yeah, me too. Fuckin' guy is never around for anyone, not even his son when he was getting nailed to a cross, but yeah, he was going to give this crowd a hand? Pfff. Incompetent.
@@AdamBorseti Jesus didnt need his father to save him. He could have killed everyone that was torturing him but that would defeat the purpose. If demons were terrified of his very presence as a human what makes you think he wasnt powerful? His purpose was to be sacrificed to forgive all our sins so that we may be forgiven and have ever lasting life in Gods new Kingdom once he gets rid of the corrupt governments we have today. And his father did save him because 3 days later he was resurrected. Death isnt the end of everything. There will be a Ressurection for EVERYONE that has ever existed and died. Including your disrespectful dumbass.
First time I've seen this. I knew Jim Leeward well. He had an air ranch in my hometown of Ocala Florida. Seeing this video brings back memories of him and my Dad. Rest in peace to them both.
@@keefbeef no one in the stands thought watching 70+ year old planes racing 500+mph while low altitude and close together was particularly safe. And for good reason, shit like this can happen with all those variables.
I still have my tickets from that day. Sat in the next set of stands over from this and will NEVER forget the sound. I turned away and didn't want to see the people.
The pilot was quickly unconscious due to the sudden surge in G forces after losing trim tab. Pitch control lost when shooting vertical. Estimate 15 Gs. Tragic.
This crash is also entirely because of the pilot, he had illegal and untested modifications to his plane. What is tragic is that he took so many people with him.
I work for as a paramedic in Phoenix and I have a friend of mine who moved to Arizona from Nevada not long ago who responded to this and was among the first on scene. It was a real disaster. Legs, hands, and body parts all around the crash then a lot of people in critical condition. He was like If we didn't have the road ways closed off and wide open after the crash. The dozens of people who lived would've bled out in the ambulance.
+Donal Parlett jr The NTSB reports were finished years ago and had a lot of still photos and video evidence. Photos and video are explained in the reports, and what was happening during the accident.
NTSB can’t confiscate video. They can request a judge issue a subpoena for the footage but the owner of the video is allowed to keep either the original or copy of footage.
@@dpurplefox I don't think there is a single pilot out there that would knowingly put fans at risk. I've seen planes deliberately crashed in order to avoid people on the ground. I believe the consensus was that Mr Leeward was knocked unconscious by the failure, otherwise I'm sure he would have done everything in his power to minimize casualties, or avoid the crowd altogether.
I didn't know about this incident, but RU-vid recommended it to me. I'm glad it did. We need to stop censoring things like this, and wake up to the fact that your life is very fragile, even if that thought makes us uncomfortable. I'm so sorry this happened, but maybe we will learn from this tragedy. If we do, his sacrifice will not be in vain.
From what I have read up on this incident the PIC Jimmy Leeward was exposed to a few seconds of +15 G's of force on his body. Not even the pilots that fly high end fighter jets with special G suits can survive a few seconds of 15 G's... For those of you wondering what 15 G's is like.... take your body weight and multiply it by 15x, this means if you weigh a mere 150lbs at 15 G's you are feeling 2,250 lbs of force exerted on your body. This is like someone setting nearly the full weight of a Mazda Miata MX-5 all over your entire body. To those calling the PIC a murderer for running into the stands, he was not conscious once the "pull up" happened when the trim broke, not even the best fighter pilots in the world with the best G suit gear could have saved that plane in that situation. To make a reference that is more relatable to the average person, when you are in an elevator and it starts its initial pull up and your knees bend a little, that's roughly 2 G's
@@Summernightsandneonlights Yeah its around 1.5 - 2g's elevator depending. Many of the older elevators could even give you a 2.25G pull if they were designed to be fast but had no acceleration buffering like modern elevators do. If you want to get a sense of G forces, rollercoasters are awesome for this. Go on a theme park rollercoaster that has a long train and ride at the very back, that will give you the most G forces, typically around 3 G's, the highest MODERN recorded was 6.5G's if I remember correctly. Keep in mind that if you pull 4 G's or maybe even 4.5G's at the rear of the rollercoaster you are still around a 1/4 of the G's this man pulled.
@@Spartan536 I wonder how many some of them old carnival rides like I think tilt-r-whirl or the one where the floor drops out from under you have. I thought I read that it was probably cause by a lock nut being reused.. I thought they all have to have cotter pins or bailling wire through them. I would think that even a brand new lock nut could be faulty because it's just some nylon and it's impossible to see what's going on inside the nut.. it would be better if the threads were niked or even double nutted but cotter pins or aircraft wire would be the safest
@@Summernightsandneonlights A rollercoaster from 1912 apparently pulled 12G's at its peak, so that might give you some idea. Older rides were designed with different principles and regulations in mind.
Chad Klaren no, that’s not what happens. This has been done thousands of times. The crash happened due to poor maintenance on a 51 year only plane. But the setting is not the cause of this.
Ian Kane Elevator fin snapped off which forced him to do suddenly 17Gs and then he blacked out and as he begin to wake up he seems to try to nose up but it’s too late.
j dman The only stupid is you to not have the intelligence to google the accident. A part of the aircraft separated incapacitating the pilot and forcing it to roll over and crash.
What a tragedy. I love airplanes and had my own when I was younger. So beautiful to watch but life can change in a second. Proper maintenance is key. Fly high guys. From South Africa.
Unless you're going to hell cuz that's where Jimmy Boy is spending his eternity for murdering 11, injuring and maiming 70 and destroying thousands of lives... the arrogant bastard
@Jay M I politely call bullshit... he modified that plane way beyond specs and lied a shit ton to the FAA and Reno Race officials cuz if he hadn't there's no effin way anyone responsible for public safety would have allowed that plane to fly, seeing as he himself gave fuck all about anybody else. The sux part is his buddies on his team went along with the charade, which means Jimmy thought himself better than everybody else and rules didn't apply to him. But lets not squabble in the details, the bigger picture is what ultimately matters - the many dead, many more maimed, the many many more wounded and traumatized and the many many many more lives permanently altered by this arrogant man's selfish actions. Thousands of lives and family trees were altered by one deranged man, too old to drive let alone fly and certainly not race high speed planes
My good friend was working dispatch when this happened. Thousands of calls flooded the boards. People were audible puking on the phone. Seasoned cops, firefighters, and emergency personnel were dumbfounded at the carnage. Body parts strew everywhere. People turned into smears. It was beyond awful.
"The investigation report, released in August 2012, found that the probable cause of the crash was reused single-use locknuts in the left elevator trim tab system that loosened. This led to a fatigue crack in an attachment screw and allowed the trim tab to flutter. This flutter caused the trim tab link assembly to fail which led to the loss of control of the aircraft. Untested and undocumented modifications to the airplane contributed to the accident. Particularly, the right trim tab had been fixed in place. Had both trim tabs been operational, the loss of the left trim tab alone may not have caused the loss of control. When the trim tab failed, Leeward experienced 17 g, which quickly incapacitated him and likely rendered him unconscious"
@@owenwilder3083 Lots man we fly these small racing drones at about 100mph and often close to spectators at events if we crash people are gonna get hurt and it wont be minor one . You can learn a lesson from everything u know
Yeah the pilot pulled a sudden 11g because the elevator trim seperated from the galloping ghost, this made him loose consciousness.. after that he plummeted into the ground. The guy screaming no no no in the background realised this and he was hoping he had not lost his consciousness because that sudded lift would do that.. he was also probobly a pilot and knew that this was not right.
My mom and I were offered tickets to the VIP section that year but we're feeling under the weather and didn't go, but I remember hearing the town on alert and in mourning. My heart broke 💔 for all those involved. I later met some who had been injured but lived but also had friends and family killed. My mom and I visited the fence memorial and signed the sign one night when it was so quiet realizing how close we too came to being there. It still gets me in the pit of my stomach. I pray many lessons can be learned for better safety in different areas. My kudos go out to the emergency workers and others who helped in that time of such a sad and chaotic moment.
I agree. Good camera work and good job documenting this. It is the most definitive footage, IMO, in terms of the actual trajectory of the aircraft, as painful as it is to watch. My thoughts go out to all the victims and injured. What a tragic incident...
Idk why this was on my recommended but damn this brought back a lot of memories. I was here the day before and lived a couple miles away. Never forget that day... rip.
Most likely was a pilot. No one can just yank the stick back and pull a sudden turn like that and still be awake. The elevator trim broke and when the plane yanked itself up and into a turn, the engine made a horrible sound and that is what probably told him "He's going to crash". The sound of a plane dive bombing is so horrific.
Anyone who intentionally or not intentionally skies like that in the middle of the race has a major problem with the aircraft. If you know Reno air racing you knew it was bad. I've seen 3 crashes during the years I went. in 2 the pilots were killed. The other was able to bring in a tail dragger on the runway and keep the prop up and not stick it into the runway. Just before he stopped he broke the prop off in the runway. Incredible landing. I've seen planes lose hydraulics and the plane flew around until the pilot could manually crank the gear down. Air racing is dangerous. These are old planes, modified to the edge of their capability. Wings are cropped for speed but lift is compromised. Ether is injected on the Gold race. As a fan you need to pay attention and put some thought into where you stand for certain races, but in the end, it's just a dangerous sport for fans and participants and crew.
Most people who saw that knew. It was upside down and plummeting towards the ground at speed. You don't need to be Chuck Yeager to know it ain't looking good.
The fact that you can literally hear the aircraft jerk and pull 17G in a matter of 1 second at 1:20 just gives me goosebumps. The sound is so specific, you know something is going wrong when you hear it...
Yeah the engine sounds during video footage of aviation crashes really freaks me out, you instinctively know something has gone horribly wrong, judging from the audience reaction it sounds like a lot of people on the ground heard it too
@@ulyssesgrant4324 He must have recognized it too, the sound is like a gunshot when you don't expect it. From other perspectives you could even hear the plane spinning.
@@arikatz9219 so... azur lane ads are based on my watch history? And other Chinese game ads? Dawg... I don't play those kind of mobile games 💀 heck I don't even play games on my phone.
My father took me to an RC plane show when I was maybe 8 years old. One of the wooden planes ended up crashing into the ground. We made our way to the car as we walked by a circle of people standing around someone who was lying on the floor. I could only see the legs and I'm pretty sure they were unusually red. We saw the ambulance on our way home. So pretty much the same thing happened to me on a much smaller scale. That is pretty chilling.
Ugh, this still haunts me 9 years later. My 2 best friends and I were supposed to be there that day. We had tickets in the section right behind where he augured in, about 30 ft away. But they couldn't go at the last minute so we ended up missing it
Just the fact that the plain did that could have killed him... That’s a lot of force to be thrown around up there... Planes ain’t no joke... That’s one of the reasons I am afraid of them...
@@turnerbullock6093 the g force wouldn't kill you. They estimated the pilot hit 15G, definitely enough to knock you out but the pilot was still alive until he hit the ground.
I have more sympathy for the victims on the ground than the pilot. He was highly experienced, yet evidently careless about the modifications and maintenance of his plane. It's one thing to risk your own life, it's another to risk those of others.
I was there and saw it. Also did debriefing with my critical incident team. A tremendous loss of life, beautiful historical plane and so much grief for all those watching. A very sad time.
I don't know if this is the same "team" in question, but I was surprised by how quick and orderly the crowd control/evacuation was set up afterward. Basically as soon as I'd gathered my wits after the initial shock, there were lanes of volunteers guiding a river of crowd, out of the venue. Seemingly popped up by magic out of nowhere. And quickly. So clearly this type of thing was planned and practiced. So kudos to you guys, if this was it.
@docjc9465 you're too stupid to discuss this with. It was a war bird, specifically designed for those kind of maneuvers. I sure didn't see you on the ground that day. Back under the bridge troll
How come the best viewing angles and the best footage of something is always the hardest to find...it is mind boggling how great this footage is at showing what happened...
@@PacMacDo I live in reno. Never I heard anyone slander or dismiss any of the deaths even the pilot. The crash was tragic and that is that. Also the equipment was experimental and not illegal dumbass
I watched this happen from the roof of my camper along the North fence line. It was a terrible thing to see knowing there were casualties. We all sat in front of TV's watching the news. It was very quiet out there.
Rob kinda what I was thinking, as uncommon as these crashes are I didn’t think stuffs gonna start exploding or other planes were gonna start falling from the sky..I had also read some comments saying his plane and the modifications might not have been legal
@@dizzyrobbins3549 Those people are retards, every plane you see here has had modifications and at the time weren't even illegal. What happened was a bolt broke, having him sharply turn up and had nothing to do with the modifications, just a 25+ year old bolt that couldn't take it.
Witnessed Steve Hinton crashing the Red Baron in 1979 at the Reno Nat's. Same reactions,,completely. Most of the stands emptied pretty quick as I remember. Not a dry eye. Steve was the Dale Earnhardt of the day with that Red Baron. Everyone cheered the Baron on. We were amazed to hear back at MGM Grand that Steve had survived. Steve had a angel with him that day,,as did Jimmy and the rest of the lost souls on this. No one was a witness to Steve's crash,,as he dropped over the end of the runway and out of sight. Big black cloud pumped up after he hit and tumbled. The really shocking part of Jimmy's crash was that everyone was witness with cell phones recording everyone reaction,,which shocks even more. I guess you kinda get numb,,when you witness enough death. Thanks AutoPilotof4.
A little late to reply, but he didn’t. When he lost vertical control the plane pulled up and it reached 15 Gs in a couple of seconds. With that amount of Gs, he either died or lost consciousness almost immediately (that’s going from your normal weight to 15 times your weight in one or two seconds). Most likely he didn’t even have the time to process that something was wrong.
I'd still consider the death rate about on par with normal racecars. You got to think, this is an air race we're talking about here. It's all about pushing the aircraft to their absolute limit. It's not the aircraft themselves that are the problem. I'm pretty sure lots of other pilots know this as well.
Jimmy Leeward was known among his peers as a strong competitor as well as flying the most consistent laps in their Class. RIP him, Gary Levitz, John Parker & Daryl Greenameyer.
Yeah, pretty sure he broke FAA rules and regulations to be that strong competitor and got 11 people killed and 60 injured. I don't think he's resting in peace.
@@zee_terminator2850 you don't slack when building airplanes, and when its a racing plane that matters even more. even if this wasn't intentional, he is still at fault, and has 11 people on his name as well.
hell of a thing to watch. I don't know why I subjected myself to this...again...9 years later. My condolences to the Leeland family, hope time has helped you heal some from your loss.
it’s scary i was actually sitting right above where this occurred but my mom had a pain in her back and we literally left the race before this happened. Lord protecting us
Ye but he has waken and tried to save it and what can i only imagine was the worst feeling knowing that u cant do much and he knew he is dead and he is about to kill 11 more people. Trust me, that feeling is much much worse.
theres a video from rhe commentators view and the bent propeller just skids down to a hilt next to them. its chilling to think a giant blender coming at you from the sky.
This is one of the most surreal angles of this crash. It doesn't show the impact necessarily, but captures the planes dynamics leading up to it and the peoples reactions from afar. Quite unsettling.
I have no idea either but if I had to guess, the planes very fast yank upwards at 1:20 caused a tremendous amount of G's to the pilot, thus losing control. I just think that he has seen a lot of airshows and knows about flying to know exactly that something was very wrong at that moment?
Hmm I've never heard about this accident before, interesting stuff. I don't know much about flying but I didnt even think it was possible to pull that many G's with a plane like that😲 crazy stuff
Actually this is partially incorrect. What happened is the plane lost its trim tab. By having lost the trim tab the plane loses control of pitch in the sense it shoots up vertically. The part where you made your mistake is that the pilot was rendered unconscious due to the sudden increase in g force and in turn the plane comes crashing down
The NTSB photo study shows that the trim tab had already failed before it fell off later. The control links were moving out of normal range and were sticking out, meaning that the tab had already failed and started to flutter before the pitch up. Once the tab stopped working, the plane was out of control.
So the trim tab separated from the elevator because of excessive flutter, and why did the tailwheel drop down too, did the g-force overcome the spring tension and lock down?
Just found out about this and damn it's scary just watching these people enjoying a perfectly normal day and then this happens. Just another reminder that life is such a gift and anything can go wrong at any moment.
@@ashertungsvik8583 i know bro, and i feel sorry for that, but still they sound great and i suppose he died doing what he loved, just like my grandfather in the 2ww (he was a fighter pilot for the Romanian army) so that being said i meant no disrespect!
If I'm remembering correctly, this occurred on Friday....the 3rd day of the 5 scheduled. I was out there on Thursday, because I think it was the only day the USAF Thunderbirds were going to perform. The crowds would have been much heavier on Sat. & Sun. He hit in front of the main grandstand ( into a VIP seating area...)......but on the backside of those stands......there are all sorts of vendors set up.
+ Lewis Mcgarry It was a failure in a critical part of the flight controls. The plane went out of control like a rubber band and the pilot passed out from G-forces in two directions at once. He was out cold all the way down.
My uncle was a first responder there and the racing track across the field had a strong stench of iron, my heart goes out to all the people that died that day.
