Jim Leroy killed in an airplane accident

Hi,

My feeling. Airshow smoke hampered his visibility.   He will greatly be missed

Jim used heavy smoke, which did not clear very quickly.

 There was video taken showing him parallel to the ground and wagging his wings left to right prior to impact. During this part of the flight his nose was high, and the tail a bit low. The side to side motion was done in a fashion which would allow him to get a visual reference once he had pulled perpendicular to the ground. 

 Given how thick the smoke was he would not have had much of a chance of being able to see the ground  while he was doing the series of corkscrew turns. 

He probably did not realize what his true altitude was until he leveled out. By this time in the flight he had too much energy to disappate, and the engine could not overcome. He ran out of altitude with too much energy, and sheared off his landing gear, deformed the fuselage, which ruptured the fuel tank. 

 Jim was a great guy and will be missed by many. Please contribute to his families memorial fund :

Jim Leroy, Jr. Memorial Fund, c/o Harris Bank, 110 East Irving Park Road, Roselle, Illinois 60172,
  

Sincerely,
 
Daryl J. Ji

Jim Leroy, Jr. Memorial Fund, c/o Harris Bank, 110 East Irving Park Road, Roselle, Illinois 60172,
m Leroy, Jr. Memorial Fund, c/o Harris Bank, 110 East Irving Park Road, Roselle, Illinois 60172,

From what I saw, he did one too many snap rolls on the downward 45. This could have been caused by any number of things:

1. Misjudged his altitude entering the maneuver. This happens occasionally, as in the case of the Thunderbird pilot who crashed in Idaho in 2003.  However, given that Jim Leroy had performed earlier in the day, that is not likely the case.

2. His view was obstructed by the smoke/haze. There were 2 aircraft performing at the time, both were using smoke. It wasn't clearing very quickly, and this could have interfered with his view.

3. In an effort to perform on the edge, he may have been trying to give the crowd a more dramatic performance, pushing the envelope just a little farther than necessary.

4. There is always the remote possibility that vertigo or spatial disorientation played a role. Also, mechanical problems are a possibility, though I'm not inclined to believe that.

From my vantage point (it happened right in front of me), he was doing downward snap rolls, and as he exited the last one, he leveled his wings and was trying to pull up. His downward momentum and lack of altitude prevented this from happening. He hit the runway at a high AOA and high rate of descent.

 My best wishes to his family.