VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

0:00 Preparation and fueling Fri. June 26, 2015
1:38 Start practice session Fri. June 26, 2015
8:30 Practice session successful Lomcevak maneuver
11:25 Start of Final Flight Sat. June 27, 2015
17:25 Fatal Lomcevak maneuver
17:47 Rescue operations
19:20 Helicopter rescue flight
20:05 Flag halfstaff, missing man formation Sun. June 28, 2015

It is with considerable difficulty that I share this video with you. It has been several years since the tragic last flight of Steve O'Berg, and I have emotionally wrestled about not sharing this video yet, at the same time, troubled about posting this record of the event and expressing my feelings. Little did I know how much Steve’s loss would affect me emotionally, both at the time of his accident and even now, after all this time. Although I am at an age where I have lost close family members, friends, former classmates, and coworkers, I was particularly affected by Steve’s crash and loss of life. As happens with major events in life, my emotions have been affected on multiple levels.

As with any spectator, I went to the Cameron Air Show to admire the skill, confidence, and bravery of those special pilots who dare to perform amazing, dangerous aerobatic feats. Although I am a former pilot, I would be lying to suggest that I’ve ever had what it takes to fly such maneuvers. I intended to document the incredible aerobatic performances and then share the sights and sounds with other aviation enthusiasts. At no time did it cross my mind that I’d be witnessing and documenting the tragic death of one of the pilots.

On Friday evening, June 26, 2015, I got there and found out it was the Cameron Air Show’s practice session day prior to the main shows on Saturday and Sunday. I was told that a wealthy aviation enthusiast put on this spectacular show so people could enjoy his passion and that the show was free. I was astounded there weren’t ten thousand people gazing into the sky, all the more reason for me to video the event so I could let others know what they were missing and perhaps they’d attend future Cameron Air Shows.

I parked in a farm field adjacent to the airport. When I entered the airport, ironically, the very first person I saw and videoed was Steve O'Berg, the very first scene in this video. He was standing next to his red and white Pitts Special, recording some data. I decided to hang around and took more videos of Steve and another pilot named Brian Correll gassing up their planes. Even though Brian Correll is from my hometown, I didn’t know either pilot and didn’t want to interfere with their work, so I kept my distance and wandered out to the flight line to enjoy the practice sessions. It was 4:25 p.m.

At 6:07 p.m., Steve was doing an unconventional takeoff with the wind at his back at the north end of the runway. At the 8:30 minute mark in this video, Steve performs the Lomcevak maneuver that failed the next afternoon. Oddly, in his practice performance Steve performed the Lomcevak maneuver after executing an inverted loop that gained additional altitude. In his fatal performance on Saturday, Steve went into the Lomcevak maneuver after reversing direction with a wiffer turn that gained no additional altitude and possibly even lost some. At a much lower altitude, it proved to be too low for the Lomcevak maneuver.

As you watch this video, admire Steve's skill, confidence, and sheer guts as he performs aerobatic feats in his Pitts S2B biplane. We'll never know and can only speculate why he chose to perform the Lomcevak maneuver at such a low altitude. Sadly, it underscores the dangers of aerobatic flying. Steve O'Berg, rest in peace.

The Lomcevak is a family of aerobatic flight maneuvers where the aircraft, with almost no forward airspeed, rotates on chosen axes due to gyroscopic precession and torque of the rotating propeller. One type of Lomcevak is when the pilot follows a knifeedge roll by flipping the airplane endoverend and into a spin, from which the pilot then recovers control of the airplane.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/search?...

© Donovan M. Kundiger June 26, 27, 28, 2015
Fresh Breeze Photography
[email protected]
https://www.viewbug.com/member/FreshB...

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