Aero-TV: Tsunami Air Racing -- Rebuilding A Legacy | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Mon, Aug 23, 2010

Aero-TV: Tsunami Air Racing -- Rebuilding A Legacy

A Tragic Loss May Someday Be Brought Back To Flight Status

It was one of the most aggressive efforts to energize American air racing... an one of its greatest tragedies... Tsunami, the first original homebuilt unlimited racer built since 1939, was designed for speed record attempts and air racing until its loss on September 25th, 1991. Tsunami crashed while on final approach to Pierre Municipal Airport in Pierre, South Dakota killing pilot John R. Sandberg, due to a mechanical control failure that resulted in an irrecoverable flight condition.

According to the NTSB report, "The accident airplane was being ferried back to Minneapolis, Minnesota, after participating in air races at Reno, Nevada. Pierre was to be an intermediate stop on the flight. It was one of a flight of two aircraft along with a Mitsubishi MU2 chase plane. En-route from Casper, WY, it was noted there was an approximate 25 knot difference between indicated airspeeds of the two aircraft, with the Tsunami indicator reading lower.

As the airplane approached the airport, it was observed by several witnesses to suddenly roll rapidly to the left, go inverted, and then pitch toward the ground. One witness also stated the plane 'turned slightly to the right before diving into the hillside.' Another witness stated, 'it looked like he was able to roll the wings level but was unable to pull out of the dive. The wing flaps were observed by the witnesses to be in the down position during the approach.'

The loss was stunning... both in terms of an amazing pilot as well as the effort of dozens of people who were trying to breathe new life into the ultra-competitive world of unlimited air racing. Now, though, there is a movement afoot to bring back Tsunami from the scrap heap and race her once again. After many years in a trailer in Princeton, MN; Tsunami was removed and damages were assessed. A group of volunteers is staffing this amazing effort and it is hoped that Tsunami will not only fly again but someday take wing to capture the glories it was designed for, from the start.

FMI: www.rebuildtsunami.org, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Aviat A1

Airplane Bounced About 3 Ft Then Touched Back Down And Then, With No Brakes Applied, The Airplane Began Veering To The Left Analysis: The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.08.25)

Aero Linx: British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) The primary focus within all aviation activity is SAFETY. In all aspects of our sport SAFETY must come first, whether it b>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Fly Corvair’s Reliable Engine Alternative

From SnF25 (YouTube Edition): William Wynne Builds Practical Aircraft Engines on the Corvair Platform Seeking an affordable alternative to the traditional aircraft engine options, >[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: CiES Fuel-Quantity and e-Throttle Systems Praised

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Bridge of CiES CiES Inc. is a Bend, Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of modular embedded aircraft systems and sensors. The company’s fuel-l>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC