North American T-6 Texan Barrel Roll Crash

[nachtjager77]

Also, Joe was a VERY accomplished stunt and warbird pilot and Reno T6 air racer. He flew the DBAF's B-25 across the Atlantic to them and I watched video of him doing a true barrel roll with that B-25 at about 3,000 feet. I've never seen anyone else do a barrel roll in a B-25, but that's the kind of pilot Joe was. On this day, he simply wasn't well and shouldn't have been flying, but nobody was going to keep him on the ground.

[nachtjager77]

Knew Joe well. Points not brought up so far. This was his 1st airshow back since an apendix operation and he was not feeling well that day. Crash came at the end of a 15 minute routine, I know for a fact he was sick before he got in the plane. Shouldn't have done the show, but that was Joe, he was a performer. It was also the 1st time he'd flown this T6 in an airshow. Bud Firth had just bought it and was mad at Joe that he wouldn't let him ride during the act. Needless to say, that saved Bud.

[jrcadet4]

Sadly, he was also rolling to the right...which made torque a factor. And my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. That didn't need to happen.

[scrubbygoat]

Altitude = Insurance

[BRITSIMdotCOM]

Terrible tragic mistake and my complete commiserations with his family - but as they always say: 'there are old pilots and there are bold pilots - but there are no old bold pilots...'

[Clearly69]

lol



[HuskyMaxx]

This was just plain pilot error. I mean, not even close to the altitude he should have been at to try this in that old beats. What a shame.

[Integ41]

@Chicawolverina An extremely accomplished airshow and air race pilot a hick? Multiple people with years of first hand experience of his flying singing his praises, you've seen a 16 second video of him. Get off your high horse.

[likeawhispr]

@Integ41 I fully agree with HuskyMaxx... no reason to name call, but it is obvious to anyone with any type of Pilots license that he didn't nearly have enough altitude to perform the roll. It looks like that old thing was a bit low on airspeed too. A loss of a pilot isn't something to celebrate, but this crash does illustrate a textbook pilot error regardless of the pilot's past accomplishments.

[par4par72]

....Ah Radial engines don't really roll to starboard very well..Moreover, you load the wings and ride the roll not just twist especially at 500ft. This is an example of how over confidence and a quick decisions will flame ya. I feel sorry for his loss.

[75mustang94]

was this at the setoma airshow?

[nolifemerc]

how can u barrol roll at 30 feet

[BarryAir]

one day Joe did rolls around my Citabria as I flew down False River ...he was a great person, and a great Pilot

[ChicaWolverina]

@BarryAir No he wasn't, he just wasted that plane, he had to know the roll rate wasn't going to be fast enough for it, and it was totally ignorant at anywhere near that altitude, he was a hick!

[riswit]

He simply did not raise the nose high enough for the rate of roll he perfromed

[mixerman24]

I knew Joe as a kid and liked him a lot. He so impressed me. Finding this video makes me sad.

[BigWheelHawaii]

Aloha All,,, Not to start any trouble, as his man lost his life, lets

remember that... First, this maneuver was not a "barrel roll"...

Second, no one pulls out in front of a railroad train on purpose,

at least not most of the time. This man had preformed this same

maneuver, a thousand times before this fateful day. I am sure he

had a low level waver, so he was a good pilot, that is not in

question here...He had plenty of airspeed, and more than enough

altitude to start, so what went wrong ?

[BigWheelHawaii]

,,,before he started the roll... It was a very small mistake, but in this case, fatal...

There can be many factors that contributed to this accident... Distraction, Air

Boss trying to hustle you along, time constants of the airshow... Once the nose dropped, he was in trouble... Most AT-6's, don't have an inverted fuel system,

so you try to keep everything positive G, so you don't lose the engine, or engine

power. To me, it just seems like a very small mistake, that escalated into a disaster.

[ajonz9213]

@BigWheelHawaii need to get some german engineering on this sucker with invert block... too bad we couldnt get that sooner

[DEO70817]

Also.this T-6 was not Joe's...it belonged to Bud Firth...Joe's T-6 " Boomer" as it was named was more powerful as he raced it at the Reno air races..He also had a TS-11 Iskra that I had flown in with him...I remember the day he rolled an Aerostar..I about crapped because I hate the Aerostar to begin with and it isnt known for aerobatics...Joe pushed the envelope but was damn good at flying...

the day he crashed this T-6 it was in the mid 90's with a high density altitude..

R.I.P. ..Joe

[DEO70817]

The Pilot Joe Hartung did not survive..i was there as was his wife and kids.I also worked for Joe at his FBO here in Baton Rouge...

[s11033]

did the pilot make it?

[ryanjmcgowan]

Any plane can do a barrel roll. A B-52 probably could. By 0:08 you can tell it's going to end bad. In a barrel roll, the plane should become horizontal again just as it becomes inverted. This one looks like it was horizontal as it passed 90° so any back pressure as it was inverted would just pull it to the ground. He was probably pushing negative Gs as it was inverted. A barrel roll is a 1g positive maneuver.

[michaelpilot1000]

This plane goes into a slip, near flat spin was starting prior to impact.

[ryanjmcgowan]

@michaelpilot1000 No it didn't.

[michaelpilot1000]

@ryanjmcgowan FYI, I have done plenty of intentional flat spins. And a few hundred spiral spins. What can you boast of? RC Planes do not count. Real flying exp. only This was combo stall/ spin developing in this video.

[ryanjmcgowan]

@michaelpilot1000 An *accelerated stall* is different than a "flat spin". A flat spin has a very high angle of attack and virtually no forward velocity, and this T-6 was still well above stall speed and probably no more than 15-20° AOA. It wasn't "near" a flat spin. I don't come on youtube to boast about what I've done in what planes I fly, which by the way, are not remote controlled.

[chobits389]

This is why they invented stunt planes, the Harvard wasn't built for maneuverability, it was built to be a bulky training brick.

[16vr6]

Low, slow aerobatics in an unfamiliar plane? Condolences to family, but that's big-time pilot error.

[rbilleaud]

Ugh, just awful. I know fans of airshows hate seeing this sort of thing. My dad was at that airshow and said Hartung's wife and kid were standing right in front of him. I can't imagine how terrible that would have been. I do know that this aircraft was not the one Hartung originally planned to fly, it was a last minute change. Whether any unfamiliarity with the plane contributed to the accident, I'm not qualified to say, but it is indeed a great tragedy.

[Integ41]

@rbilleaud can't imagine doesn't begin to describe it. He had more than 30 hours in this specific plane and over 600 hours in type. And it was his wife and kid(s). Myself and my sister.

[an8pilot]

and to CHUCKP61 about toward the right.... I like watching Bud Granley and most of his rolls are toward the right toward the direction of the prop. Watching here on you tube Bud Granley 2004 Cold Lake Airshow... Yes I know your thoughts. "But that's Bud and he knows what he is doin" RIP Joe Hartung

[an8pilot]

To an expert aerobatics guy please..I have a couple T-6's myself, projects. I'm a commercial non-aeorbat pilot. Been messing with warbirds my whole life, I don't do anything without training, by instructor"s" whom I would hope to be the best I can find. I have no intention to do areobat, but at 11 to 12 seconds in to the roll does it seem like he felt he needed to hurry up the roll and seems to add rudder and pull elev and accelerated the roll into a snap or stall??? I hate watching this.

[MosJada]

That's Joe Hartung. I was at this airshow (Lafayette, Louisiana KLFT) and also have it on video but my view of the impact was blocked. If anyone's interested it's on the NTSB site as FTW96FA200. I remember being highly annoyed by the Thunderbirds who were sitting right on the flight line in front of the crowd and had their engines running all throughout his performance. I think Hartung was the first performer of the day and the T-birds were to be the last.

[chuckp61]

He made many mistakes - the first of which was confusing his perceived ability with his actual ability. Someone who really knew what they were doing could start at this altitude but they would have pulled the nose up a lot more before starting to roll and they would have rolled to the left rather than the right - engine torque helps you roll left (in an aeroplane where the propeller turns clockwise as seen by the pilot - such as a T6) and slows the roll rate to the right as seen in this video.

[Integ41]

@chuckp61 with over 50 airshow performances in a T-6 and over 600 hours in the type aircraft I'd say he knew more than you give him credit for.

[Bryanairlandhobbies]

didn't pull to altitude enough and began rool way too soon.  r.i.p.

[maverickjulio]

he going to slow and very low...r.i.p

[TheDidlo1]

I know I guy who crashed twice as a chopper pilot in Vietneam, then crashed his private plane twice 30yrz later. I don't fly with him anymore.

[crf250stevo]

pushed wrong rudder at 3/4 of roll

[Faucon551237]

WOOW we got pilots here that exacly know what happened! LOL

Stop saying shit seriously

[TheLuckyMuffins]

@crf250stevo you dont use rudder in a roll.My father is a stunt pilot.He said it just looks like what maverickjulio said

[Charon58]

@TheLuckyMuffins It depends on the kind of roll and yes you do use rudder...

[pumpkinv12]

Far too low, pilot error.

[P214Stearman]

didn't pulled enough

R.I.P