I don't really see anything that points to mechanical failure. It appears to me as though the machine stalls (wing stall not engine) on the climb after buzzing the buildings and the pilot doesn't have enough elevation to recover. They lose the tail rotor in the bounce which of course leads to the grand finale.

Not the first time a little military flying fun has gone wrong. My guess is a few somebodies are probably without jobs after that stunt. Lucky to have lived.




The guy that was flying this plane had a long and well documented history of showing off and taking unreasonable risks to the point that many would not fly with him. They now use his "legacy" as a case study for breakdowns in decision making and chain of command in the context of risk management. His wife and kids were at the show.