When I first heard about the crash I thought the plane was a
refurbished WW II standard P-51 and that it was being flown in a War
bird exhibition. I felt bad for the pilot, and for the people who died
in the crowd and for the loss of an historic aircraft.
Today (Sunday 09-18-11) I read an article in the paper about what
happened. It seems that the P-51 had been highly modified for greater
speed in an air race. One of the mod's was to remove 5 feet off of each
wing tip and to modify the edge of the remaining wing. Couple this with
the age of the pilot and the speed and g-forces involved and the chances
of a crash increase greatly.
To me it seems to have been bad judgment to make these mod's to an
aircraft of this vintage and history, and extremely bad judgment on the
part of the pilot to fly in the race.
I Still feel bad for the deaths and injuries to all those involved, but
also feel that it should have been avoided.