Howard Pardue

Dont know if he ever flew a RV, but this RV flyer sure loved seeing him at Reno.

RIP Howard.

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articl...led.html?WT.mc_id=120413epilot&WT.mc_sect=gan

Lost the Bearcat, too

Oh man, that sucks! Howard was a true gentleman and an awesome pilot, and I always loved his Bearcat. Now we've lost the both...a very sad day indeed.

R.I.P. Howard, you will be greatly missed.

I had the opertunity to have dinner at the gathering of Eagles event at Oshkosh with Mr.Pardue, he was fascinated with the RV aircraft, we talked quite a bit about building and flying the RV, it's a shame to lose any of these great airman.

Sad but...

NTSB preliminary:The pilot witness told investigators that Pardue announced he would perform a half Cuban Eight following liftoff and overfly the runway in the opposite direction“The witness stated that after liftoff the accident airplane climbed 100 to 200 feet in a shallow climb before it pitched-up into a near vertical climb. The airplane continued the climb in an inside loop before leveling out, inverted, about 500 feet above the runway heading the opposite direction of the takeoff,” the preliminary report states, noting it is subject to error and revision prior to the final accident report’s release. “The witness then saw the airplane's wings roll suddenly before the airplane entered a near vertical descent. The witness described the final portion of the aerobatic maneuver as a split-S, or a descending half loop, from which the airplane was unable to recover before colliding with terrain on a southeasterly heading.”

Yes sad indeed, especially for his family.
And avoidable...

V/R
Smokey

Let's learn.

I'm with all of you...sad indeed.

There is something for all of us to take from this and other similar tragedies. Gravity ALWAYS wins!

My ex boss was a Berlin Airlift pilot, flying C-47's, AT-6 instructor in the Army air corps, P-51 racer, Bearcat racer at Reno and other venues, and a cropduster for 20 years

He died running the Bear out of gas at Flagstaff, Arizona, on the way home from the Reno air races, in 1975. He was 51. The story is in the NTSB archives.

Best,

Howard was a fixture at Reno for as long as I've been going there. Very sad he had to go like this. Looping and rolling manoeuvres at low altitude have unfortunately killed many highly experienced warbird pilots in the US and UK. He and his Bearcat will be sorely missed.