Frank Sanders

[sierra fox]

May 9, 1989 was the day we lost Frank Sanders while flyng the Red Knight. I was fortunate to have spent some time with him when he was out of Long Beach then out of Chino. As a kid i would ride my bicycle 40 miles from the beach to Chino airport to see what they had cookin in the hangar. He always allowed me to wander around the place and would take me to lunch along with the rest of the gang.Lots of great memories!

Does anyone out there have any photos form the old days of the original 232 that could be posted in his honor?

Always blue skies Frank

Anthony

[King]

Re: Frank Sanders

Accident occurred Friday, May 04, 1990 in Roswell, NM.

[sierra fox]

Re: Frank Sanders

OK,i'm crawling into my cave now

[twdwelle]

Re: Frank Sanders

He successfully passed his passion for flying on to his kids.
No small feat.

TJ Dwelle

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Frank Sanders

Tom D. You have also passed on your passion for flying to your son. You have done a lot for Air Racing.
Lockheed Bob

[John H]

Re: Frank Sanders

Accident occurred Friday, May 04, 1990 in Roswell, NM.

Yeah was thinking about it on the day a week ago. He was probably doing stuff he'd done a million times in the Sea Fury and it didn't work in a jet.

John

[Reno64]

Re: Frank Sanders

I believe that N232 was owned by Mr. Sanders when I took these pictures at Travis AFB, September 26, 1976. I hope they add to the memories.

[speeddemon]

Re: Frank Sanders

Yeah was thinking about it on the day a week ago. He was probably doing stuff he'd done a million times in the Sea Fury and it didn't work in a jet.

John

Actually, if I remember correctly, someone else was at the controls, and he bottomed out of a loop.

[King]

Re: Frank Sanders

Catastrophic failure of the wing during aerobatic maneuvers.

[Mluvara]

Re: Frank Sanders

I believe the aircraft broke up in flight, according to the NTSB.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X23123&key=1

Michael

[Chad Veich]

Re: Frank Sanders

I read somewhere that the wing failure was related to the smoke winders being located in the tip tanks. Is this no longer believed to be the case? I notice that the current "Red Knight" does not have them in the tanks but rather on pylons. Was the change in location due to ease of assembly or was there suspicion that they may have contributed to the crash?

[sierra fox]

Re: Frank Sanders

According to Brian, the back seat rider had some time in the T-33 and i think some Saber time as well. His claim was that it was a PIO caused when the guy in the back seat grabbed the controls while in a High-G attitude (9 or 10g's according to the meter).

I've heard several pilots give their own take on it and they are widely varied.

AT