Telemetry downloaded from Galloping Ghost revealed an 11g pull up,
fuel flow

interrupted on the way up, and then the engine restarted when fuel flow

resumed at the top of the arc.  The aircraft was making 105 inches of
MP(Manifold Pressure) on the way down.

Colleen Keller

Sport Class Race 8 Crew

Ted Carter



Dave,

Do you think Jimmy could have survived the 11g pull up?

rog

That 11g pull-up would have instantaneously killed anyboby,especially a 74
year old man,not
wearing a pressure suit..
That high G-force also probably ripped the pilot's seat right off its
anchoring bolts
.Recall that clear close-up picture of the GG,nose-down,just before
impact,posted in the media of
the canopy with no occupant visible.
The shock of the force,pushed Jimmy back and down in the cockpit,killing
him,instantaneously.There
just was no way he could have recovered... .

Dave Young

That is counter to what I've read..  Aircraft seats are often designed to a
26G standard because the
human body can survive that kind of impact. So to say that 11g is instantly
fatal doesn't quite add
up for me.


Matt-


The human body can survive up to around 40 g, properly restrained, in a
collision, not in a sustained maneuver.  Without  g-suit, most people start
to black out at 4g.  I you do the "grunt" exercise, you can get that to 6g,
maybe more.  With a g-suit, you can do maybe 9g and that can go to 11 with
the "grunt" routine.  They now put F-16 pilots in a centrifuge to
demonstrate they can maintain consciousness at 11g.  Jimmy Leeward didn't
have any of that.  He was in a standard seat configuration and had a
sudden,
SUSTAINED exposure to 11g.  If the seat had broken, which is suggested by
some of the photos, he was in even deeper guano.

Steve Brazil


At Red Bull air race pilots fly 11-12 G every race. That much G force for
few second is no harm for anybody. Jim Leroy used to fly -9 +10 G at every
airshow too.

Cheers
Vesa Kurvinen

It is indeed possible to apply huge G-forces to yourself and remain conscious, however in order to adequately prepare yourself for these forces, you'd need to be expecting them. Clearly an unexpected 11G pull would leave the pilot utterly unprepared, and under those acceleration loads, the pilot would most probably black out long before they had a chance to react against the G.

Tim Vickers