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The pilot pulls too many G loads and the wings breaks apart

This is what can happen when you pull too many Gs.
September 11th, 1983 - Airshow in Plainview, TX, USA - The pilot was executing a high speed pass over the runway at about 250 ft above the ground. The pilot then began a rapid pull-up and both wings separated just outboard of the engine nacelles. The 'g' load at the time of the wing separations would have been 8.3 g's. The plane, a Partenavia P68C, was not design for so high a G load. The pilot was killed.

Comments

Anita Rother
Escondido (United States)
It was in Plainview Texas. I was the reporter who flew with Wes to do a feature story on him. I was 22 years old and I had a young videographer who flew with me It's our footage that aired on NBC.
11th June, 2020
Ryan Kidd
Las Vegas (Usa)
Simply in lameness terms- he over-stressed an aircraft and the wings came off. I was there. I have a picture of him still in the plane after the crash. To this day, "he was an idiot, not a pilot."
27th December, 2013
JP
Keller (Usa)
I was there. This took place in Plainview, Texas in 1983 at an airshow. The plane is an Italian made personal aircraft, not rated for acrobatics. The pilot performed a loop and leveled off and was attempting to perform a second loop. The speed combined with the load induced by pulling back on the yoke, exceeded the load rating of the plane many times over. The same result would occur on just about any personal aircraft if the speed and load limits are repeatedly grossly exceeded. It was an awful thing to witness. Yes, the announcer was the pilots wife. The plane landed just a few feet from our vehicle. No explosion, just a low thud that you could feel in the ground. This was a very avoidable condition. Pilot training 101.....what not to do!
12th May, 2011
Marty
Hamilton (New Zealand)
It was Japan and the announcer was the wife of the pilot. Very very sad to see this type of idiocy is too common.
6th June, 2010
Chris LaBriola
Phoenix (Usa)
The pilot was my father Wes Winter who performemed many shows previously flying a Pitts Special in the same airshow doing the 3 ribbon pickup. Wow, what an awesome stunt. I will never forget you. RIP
14th January, 2010
Mike M
Abernathy, Tx (Usa)
I remember this I was there but 9-11 is just a bad day to fly for real not joking. Sorry if i'm rude or disrespectful by saying that. God bless the USA
12th July, 2009
Rob
Seattle
He was 27 knots past the Vne and spike-loaded the wings at 8.3 Gs. The plane was not rated for this kind of flight. You can hear his wife cry out "I still need you..." as he falls out of the sky. Sickening.
12th May, 2009
Andy
You can clearly hear the Japanese commentator saying the event is taking place in Texas.
8th June, 2008
Stack
I thought this crash happened in Japan or something, not the US? Also, I've seen other videos that mention the pilot's wife was the announcer when he crashed.
12th March, 2008
michael
Fallbrook (Us)
that sucks for the pilot man.i know it was a an airshow but he should have relaxed on pushing his plane that hard.
9th March, 2008
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