Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show & Balloon Festival 2022

Discussion relating to 2022 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Sat Jul 02, 2022 11:18 pm

I was out in the pyro field (yep that's me in the gray shirt lol) but I was so focused on filming it I barely saw anything until the truck had come to a stop. Ironically, I messed up the camera and ended up with no video of the crash at all. Cell service was completely gone for hours after the crash, so now that I am home is the first time I'm actually getting to see videos of what happened.

However, I talked to a few of the pilots at the show who think the engine blew first, then the tires and everything else. One person has footage that seems to show debris blowing across the runway during the run and a couple others think they saw sparks and weird stuff coming from the engine before things shredded.

I can't confirm anything except that it's a very sad day. This is the second time I have left the briefing with someone only to watch them die a few hours later and it is simply awful. Keep his family in your thoughts.
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Ryan Sundheimer
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BradleeG102896
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Post by BradleeG102896 » Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:49 am

So is the explosion every keeps referring to the fire that is seen right after the tire blew apart? I keep seeing the news saying the truck exploded, I assumed they’re either referring to the pyro shot that happened at the same time or did the truck literally explode after it came to a rest?

I feel like the left chute deployed way before the right side chute and that contributed to the sudden violent barrel roll.
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Sun Jul 03, 2022 1:06 am

BradleeG102896 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:49 am So is the explosion every keeps referring to the fire that is seen right after the tire blew apart? I keep seeing the news saying the truck exploded, I assumed they’re either referring to the pyro shot that happened at the same time or did the truck literally explode after it came to a rest?

I feel like the left chute deployed way before the right side chute and that contributed to the sudden violent barrel roll.
When seen live, the truck losing control and catching fire was very close timing and distance-wise to the large pyro shot. A lot of poorly informed people have assumed and stated that the pyro shot 'blew up the truck' and that story is kind of sticking around. For many in the crowd, the truck went into one side of the pyro flames fine and came out the other side on fire and tumbling. The story seems simple enough so that's how many are describing it.

Of course the pyro shot had NOTHING to do with the incident, as video clearly shows the truck coming apart before the pyro even blew and of course the pyro was well de-conflicted off to the side of the runway. I think I was almost as close to it as the truck was, to be honest.

The truck did suddenly catch fire as it started coming apart - surely the fuel tanks and lines ruptured along with everything else. However the main failure was apparently something mechanical before that point.
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ItsCreeperPlay
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Post by ItsCreeperPlay » Sun Jul 03, 2022 2:26 am

wow that is so sad.. cant believe it :cry:
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Sun Jul 03, 2022 2:43 am

Official statement posted by the Shockwave page
During today’s SHOCKWAVE Jet Truck performance at the Battlecreek Field of Flight Airshow an accident occurred as a result of a mechanical failure on the Jet Truck. Regretfully Chris Darnell the driver and my youngest son passed away from his injuries at approximately 1:01 pm.
No one else was involved.
I will post more information as we get it. We will provide Funeral Arrangements sometime this week.
We are so sad. Just one month ago Chris turned 40. He was so well loved by everyone who knew him. Chris so loved the Air Show business. He was
“Living the Dream “ as he said.
Neal Darnell
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Ryan Sundheimer
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Alex41985
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Post by Alex41985 » Sun Jul 03, 2022 3:37 am

This is my observation. When the back tire blew it may have ruptured the fuel tanks and fuel lines and it became a projectile due to the high rate of speed which caused it to roll or the engines may have ingested the debris from the blown tire when it occurred.

Not saying that’s what happened. Just an observation.
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BradleeG102896
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Post by BradleeG102896 » Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:01 am

Alex41985 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 3:37 am This is my observation. When the back tire blew it may have ruptured the fuel tanks and fuel lines and it became a projectile due to the high rate of speed which caused it to roll or the engines may have ingested the debris from the blown tire when it occurred.

Not saying that’s what happened. Just an observation.
I agree, but in previous observations I thought the afterburners were cut off immediately at chute deployment? But in the photo above they are still lit after chute deployment.

Also if you look at the 2nd photo, I think the left side chute didn’t deploy because it appears to be wrapped around the wheel, that could be what sent him off the runway and barrel rolling similar to Kent Shockley’s incident.

The people with more expertise in this will figure out eventually what went wrong. All I know is it’s a sad sad day in the airshow community, we lost a great one today.
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Waka Photography
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Post by Waka Photography » Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:29 am

BradleeG102896 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:01 am
Alex41985 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 3:37 am This is my observation. When the back tire blew it may have ruptured the fuel tanks and fuel lines and it became a projectile due to the high rate of speed which caused it to roll or the engines may have ingested the debris from the blown tire when it occurred.

Not saying that’s what happened. Just an observation.
I agree, but in previous observations I thought the afterburners were cut off immediately at chute deployment? But in the photo above they are still lit after chute deployment.

Also if you look at the 2nd photo, I think the left side chute didn’t deploy because it appears to be wrapped around the wheel, that could be what sent him off the runway and barrel rolling similar to Kent Shockley’s incident.

The people with more expertise in this will figure out eventually what went wrong. All I know is it’s a sad sad day in the airshow community, we lost a great one today.

Excellent observation on the engines still being in burner during chute deployment. Typically there's some slight white smoke that comes out of the engines when they're pulled to idle right when the chute gets deployed.

Also, the left side chute couldn't have been caught in the wheel cause shockwave's chutes deploy on one single line. You can see where the line splits into two and appears to have 2 good chutes in the second picture. Definitely was a good hypothesis though!

Did anyone else find it interesting that shockwave initially spinned the opposite direction of the blown tire? I would've expected the truck to veer left if the back left tire blew, however videos show that it spins right. Still can't believe this happened.

Stay safe,
Josh Walker
Waka Photography
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BradleeG102896
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Post by BradleeG102896 » Sun Jul 03, 2022 5:06 am

Waka Photography wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:29 am
BradleeG102896 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:01 am
Alex41985 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 3:37 am This is my observation. When the back tire blew it may have ruptured the fuel tanks and fuel lines and it became a projectile due to the high rate of speed which caused it to roll or the engines may have ingested the debris from the blown tire when it occurred.

Not saying that’s what happened. Just an observation.
I agree, but in previous observations I thought the afterburners were cut off immediately at chute deployment? But in the photo above they are still lit after chute deployment.

Also if you look at the 2nd photo, I think the left side chute didn’t deploy because it appears to be wrapped around the wheel, that could be what sent him off the runway and barrel rolling similar to Kent Shockley’s incident.

The people with more expertise in this will figure out eventually what went wrong. All I know is it’s a sad sad day in the airshow community, we lost a great one today.

Excellent observation on the engines still being in burner during chute deployment. Typically there's some slight white smoke that comes out of the engines when they're pulled to idle right when the chute gets deployed.

Also, the left side chute couldn't have been caught in the wheel cause shockwave's chutes deploy on one single line. You can see where the line splits into two and appears to have 2 good chutes in the second picture. Definitely was a good hypothesis though!

Did anyone else find it interesting that shockwave initially spinned the opposite direction of the blown tire? I would've expected the truck to veer left if the back left tire blew, however videos show that it spins right. Still can't believe this happened.

Stay safe,
Josh Walker
Waka Photography
You are right on the chutes being from a single point, I have never realized that, I always thought there were 2 separate lines.

I agree with you on the veering right instead of left, that one completely baffles me. Unless the sudden blowout of the tire caused an initial reaction to right. Chris was telling me once before that once up to about 150 mph, it’s so light on the tires that you can’t make major steering adjustments or it cause the truck to loose control.

But looking at the videos again, once he is completely sideways you can look closely and the 3 engines are still lit, it’s looking like it could’ve been several mechanical malfunctions that unfortunately happened all in one run.
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Waka Photography
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Post by Waka Photography » Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:02 pm

Yeah it's really hard to understand what exactly happened. I'm sure things work differently too when you're moving that fast and have that much thrust. Plus, we're only seeing it from the left side. I'd be curious to see the view from the right side but I doubt there was any videos or photos captured from there.

Stay safe,
Josh Walker
Waka Photography
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