Bratislava Airshow Mid Air

Direct link to the stills photos.

http://drahovsky.blog.sme.sk/c/64121/Letec…06-Vajnory.html

Thank heaven both pilots will fly again. Despite the comments regarding light weight, high drag, low speed etc, I certainly wouldn’t want to have been in there!

Its a salutary remnder of how poor the visibility is in biplanes and triplanes of the era. And ten out of ten to the triplane pilot who seemed to make a safe landing although no doubt with a broken prop, the engine was trying to shake itself out of the airframe!

I guess the fact that the replica was fairly light, had lots of drag by virtue of its design, and was travelling fairly slowly,meant that it fell relatively slowly, and then it cushioned the impact as a result of the structure deforming and collapsing as it hit the ground – but still one very very lucky guy to escape with such (relatively) minor injuries.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that many pilots from the early days of aviation survived multiple accidents relatively unscathed due to the relatively slow speeds and low altitudes involved, plus the construction of their aircraft, which tended to crumple on impact, thus diffusing the energy involved.

Paul F

very luck considering the angle he went in at!