Airshow Pilot Lost

[Bill Greenwood]

Sadly, there was a fatal accident at Travis AFB today, and it was Eddie Andreini in his Stearman, apparently from a low level inverted act.
He was a long time show pilot from Half Moon Bay, California and also flew a Yak in an acro show.

I didn't know him well,but we had dinner with him last year in Seattle at the NWOC meeting there. He seemed like a nice guy with a good sense of humor, and a zest for life.

I had asked him about learning to fly the Yak and he said to give him a call and come out sometime when I had the chance.

RIP

[Jeffsunzeri]

Eddie was a very talented and professional pilot, and well respected by all who knew him. He was a good friend. He had been performing in the 450 Stearman for over 25 years, and was inducted into the ICAS Hall of Fame. He performed in the Stearman all over the world, and had done the inverted ribbon cutting hundreds, if not thousands of times. There was no better ambassador for aviation than him. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him and had the pleasure of flying with him and enjoying his skill and expertise.

[Jim Heffelfinger]

Initial eyewitness reports indicated he descended in "stair steps" into the ground. Unable to push elevator? Pumped to free the controls?
Way too many accidents the last few years.

[Floatsflyer]

As of this morning, one clear unobstructed YouTube video showed the plane sliding onto the runway as if it was a normal landing but inverted of course. It slid to a stop(mostly intact) and within a few moments the fire started. There is a lot of controversial commentary on social media concerning the long response time by emergency personnel and equipment in getting to the scene.

[Bill Greenwood]

Jeff, I don't think I have ever seen a ribbon cut by a Steaman. I have seen lots by Pitts, ect. I would think the Stearman would be hard to do an inverted cut act since it probably doesn't fly very well upside down and I assume it doesn't have inverted systems, maybe this one did?
The only way that I could see to do this act would be with lot's of speed so as to have enough lift and then roll to inverted just long enough to make the cut then back up to normal upright flight. That seems to me to take a lot of timing and skii. I never saw Eddie fly, only on Tv or video. I guess one way or the other he had this Stearman act well polished.

I only do rolls in airshows, nothing vertical and nothing really near the ground. When you are doing it at 50 or 100 feet there is just so little margin for error.

I can't think of much more to say, except I've seen this for 31 years and it hasn't gotten any easier. And most of the people lost in warbird or fun type flying have been from some sort of low altitude acro or maneuvering, where there is little time or room to correct a problem.

[Glenn Gordon]

Eddie was able to do stuff with a 450 Stearman unlike any other pilot I have ever seen. John Mohr is of equal caliber, however his skill shines on a stock 220 Stearman.


Here is the routine.





Here is the video of the accident

http://youtu.be/NfOWBy0wd7A

[RetroAcro]

Jeff, I don't think I have ever seen a ribbon cut by a Steaman. I have seen lots by Pitts, ect. I would think the Stearman would be hard to do an inverted cut act since it probably doesn't fly very well upside down and I assume it doesn't have inverted systems, maybe this one did?
The only way that I could see to do this act would be with lot's of speed so as to have enough lift and then roll to inverted just long enough to make the cut then back up to normal upright flight. That seems to me to take a lot of timing and skii. I never saw Eddie fly, only on Tv or video. I guess one way or the other he had this Stearman act well polished.

I only do rolls in airshows, nothing vertical and nothing really near the ground. When you are doing it at 50 or 100 feet there is just so little margin for error.

I can't think of much more to say, except I've seen this for 31 years and it hasn't gotten any easier. And most of the people lost in warbird or fun type flying have been from some sort of low altitude acro or maneuvering, where there is little time or room to correct a problem.

His 450 Stearman definitely had inverted systems. Flying inverted in any airplane with inverted systems is nothing special from a difficulty or skill standpoint. Stearmans fly inverted OK. Would not take inordinate speed with a 450. It's just a matter of holding the right amount of forward pressure (if not trimmed out) to sustain inverted flight. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened during an inverted ribbon cut. There are experienced airshow pilots who feel descending to the ribbbon height inverted is dangerous, as this introduces potential for focusing on the ribbon more than your descent rate toward the ground. It looks like he flew dead straight into the ground. Many feel best practice is to roll inverted at the ribbon height and fly a level, stabilized line to the ribbon.

[WLIU]

Eddie Andreini's Stearman was a pretty unusual one with a one-of-a-kind fold over canopy, inverted system, wing walking setup, 4 ailerons, big smoke, and some other stuff. He took good care of it.

When I stopped in at Half-Moon Bay many years ago, Eddie Andreini was training a new wing walker. The guy's first job was sweeping the hangar. The intro to the world of flying with Eddie A was getting into the front cockpit and having Eddie fly down the coast inverted for a tour...inverted. You had to survive that to go further. I think that I recall that the canopy could be folded open in flight so that the wing walker could climb up out of the front cockpit up to the top wing.

Allen Silver was Eddie A's wing walker for a while. Allen once told me that "its not that hard to hold on when you are that frightened!".

Eddie Andreini was 77 years old. Based on the video that they are publishing I will hazard a guess that he had a health problem crop up. The airplane appears to have done a decent inverted landing and you would expect a pilot who had not been incapacitated to fold the canopy open and crawl out.

Great guy and great family. If you happen by Half-Moon Bay, stop by Ketch Joanne, "the best waterfront dive bar on the west coast" and hoist one for Eddie A.

Be careful out there,

Wes
N78PS

[Bill Greenwood]

Glenn, thanks for the video of Eddie flying the airshow. I hadn't seen it and had not seen him fly in person. I guess he was mostly out west and I haven't been out there is some time. I flew at Santa Monica and Chino about 2003, that was the last time. Time does go by. That show on the video is at Watsonville. and just for info, one of the first shows that I ever went to as a new pilot was Watsonville in 1980 in my "77 Mooney 201, then on to Chino

. I haven't been able to watch the accident video yet. Maybe I will eventually, maybe there is something to learn, but I've seen too many friends lost. I didn't know Eddie well, just spent a few hours with him, but in the other sense I did know him well. He was just like almost all the others that aren't here anymore. He was a do it guy, not a sit and watch it guy, and he did it with great skill for so long. As to direct cause, we don't really know and may never know for sure. The bigger cause is the risk environment, being inverted low down, not cruising along up high, with so little room for a problem.

[pittsdriver3]

I have seen him fly several times in the Stearman and YAK. At the Arlington airshow a few years ago he flew a stock 220 Stearman and that is one of the most impressive aerobatic displays I have ever seen. One other thing is that accident looked very survivable. The crash crew took over 4 minutes to get to the scene as they were behind the show line and had to go through the crowd to get to the runway. Don