C-47 "Bluebonnet Belle" Crashes

Hi All,

 

https://www.kxan.com/video/crash-destroys-wwii-era-plane-in-burnet-all-13-aboard-survive_20180722030546/1315399067

 

The Bluebonnet Bell, the c-47 owned and operated by the CAF, Highland Lakes Squadron, crashed and burned while taking off to attend the airshow at Oshkosh last Saturday. There were 13 souls on board. All survived the crash but several were taken to the hospital by local fire department ambulances and an air evac helicopter.

 

I have a special affection for this aircraft. I'm a paramedic instructor. The program I teach for leases the upstairs portion of the CAF's hanger in Burnet, TX where the "Belle" was hangered. I often joked that I have a hard time teaching with the 'Belle' as my backdrop.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those injured.

 

I will sorely miss seeing her when I teach.

I hate to see this, too, and my heart goes out to and prayers go up for those injured and affected. Thanks for sharing, hadn’t seen this yet. I’m glad to see/hear the CAF will continue to do their work - that they are saddened but will keep at their mission of preserving these planes and educating young people.

 

That plane was struggling to get up. I’ll certainly wait for NTSB to comment and report, but that’s not how a well-balanced, correctly loaded plane looks (captain obvious here).

 

Kevin

From what I've heard it was a density altitude problem. It has been well over 105F here this last week. Short runway, high density altitude, bad combination.