RIP to Jane Wicker, I'm hearing she's a mother of 2. Not to mention the pilot.

Agreed, about wing walking, if I had a 120lb girl on my wing, even in a biplane, I'd roll about 3 layers of duct tape around my hand and the control stick.

 

Just a bit insensitive calling the recently deceased "stupid", don't you think?

I have personally known two wing walkers who had long and successful careers and they were very smart and careful people. And I know people who think that anything involving aviation, underwater sports, equestrian sports, alcohol consumption, and motorcycles is "dangerous". We all do some or all of these things and accept the risks. People die every day doing a wide variety of things that others deem as unnecessarily risky. Thank goodness we live in a time and place where it is possible to do these things because these activities are how we express our freedom. It is how we fulfill our pursuit of happiness.

Clearly Jane Wicker evaluated and accepted risks involved with wing walking and found the equation acceptable. Tragically, something went horribly wrong and she and Charlie Schwenker died doing what they loved.

It is a very sad day and a day of mourning as we have lost two wonderful members of our aviation community.

It would be appropriate and respectful to offer condolences and a decent period of restraint from speculation while our friends are mourned and laid to rest.

8

 

Glad they died doing what they love, but so do base jumpers. I know one person that does wing walking, but I just don't see the point in it. I digress and you are right, they have the freedom to do this if they choose.

 

No,.
No,.
No,..

And no.

You do not know what you are talking about so shut it.

 

Relatively high AOA and parasitic drag on wing closest to the camera (left). The wing appears to stall.

Terrible loss to the wing walker and air show community. Lost another one less than a year ago as well.

 

This, plus it appeared as though he may have flown through his own wake? Not much but just enough to get it to roll just a little bit, and once he was rolling, or stalled, too low to recover. When you are low, slow and upside down, it doesn't take much to upset your apple cart.

It seemed to happen right about the same point where he had started climbing on takeoff. He climbed, circled, rolled upside down, and flew in low very near to the point of where he started his climb.

I don't know if there was any wind at the time, but if it was basically calm, there may have been some disturbed air still there. It reminded me of when I would fly the 360's while getting my PPL, and hit the 'bump' at the finish/start point.

I had a friend who died landing a Smith Mini Plane, just after a Steerman with a 450hp motor had taken off. He got into the wake of the Steerman just as he was flaring, rolled to the right, his wing tip hit the ground and he cartwheeled.

And at another airshow (practice?), there was a KC135 that flew throw the wake of the B52, rolled and crashed, at Fairchild AFB I think, back in the late 80's or early 90's.

Thoughts and prayers to their families.

 

This. Inverted stalled. You can see the pilot push a couple times once inverted. Lost too much energy and not enough time/altitude to gain it back. Hard to tell if the wing Jane was on stalled first or if the pilot tried to do a quick snap roll once he felt the break to try and recover. We'll never know. Very sad and my thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends. RIP.

 

Perhaps rather then telling someone they're wrong & to "shut it" you should explain why they're incorrect. Then explain what is more likely to have occured. We encourage healthly debate, but also educating each other.

 

Couldn't agree with you more.

 

Oh christ... That's awful. I was thinking it seemed like wake / sudden change in the air. What is that altitude ? Looks like it can't be more than 50 ft... Is that a normal level for this kind of stunt ?

I hope this doesn't turn into another thread like the Bagram crash.