Originally Posted By: BusyLittleShop
Originally Posted By: grampi
Cool pic. I was there that year. Did you witness the very unfortunate fatal crash of Gary Levitz? So sad....
No...
Miss Ashely was my pick to win... sporting counter rotating props and a Lear wing and
stab mated to a home built fuselage... this wasn't your converted gun platform but a
true one off racer in the spirit of the golden years of the Thompson... but it was all
over when I got there on Sunday as the unfortunate fatal crash happened on Saturday...
however I did talk with Gary's Dad in the pits and he thought the elevator trim cable had
worked loose on Miss Ashley and resulted in a violent pitch which destroyed the stab...
faced with his grief I didn't say what was on my mind out of respect...
That's odd...it was also an elevator trim tab that took out Grey Ghost back in '11...you wouldn't think that losing such a small piece of the control surface (or losing control of it) would cause such a catastrophic result, but I guess at the speeds these planes are doing, ANY change in a control surface makes a huge difference...