Author Topic: Any news on what caused the North American Eagle F104 - Jessi Combs crash?  (Read 26665 times)

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Offline MX304

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Here it is, straight from Terry Madden:

terry_madden #rememberthetime
I was woke up Monday by a reporter from the London Times telling me that @guinnessworldrecords would be releasing today that @thejessicombs had officially broke her world landspeed record.
I really don?t know how I feel about this at all as no record could ever be worth her not being here, but it was a goal that she really wanted - and as hard as it is for me to even look at the car without crying. I?m so proud of her. She woke up that morning to an alarm saying ?lets make history? and we had an absolutely amazing day. On the morning run she broke her previous top speeds and we went back to the trailer and had a long heart to heart - she had a few things that were bothering us safety wise and I told her I would support her no matter what she decided to do. That afternoon we booked a house in Lake Tahoe for the next night, and she decided she was going to run that one last afternoon run to back up her record and then walk away from it for good and let her back up driver go for the overall world record instead of her. That was to be the last time she ever got in that car. It has torn me apart that all I had todo is say let?s go and we would have left before that run, she asked my opinion and I told her Togo for it if it was what she wanted. That conversation has torn me apart everyday since the accident. .
On her final record run- the front wheel assembly failed and as she decelerated just past the end of the run, it came apart and went up into the electronics/mechanical bay behind her seat and caused the accident. There was nothing that she could do and she did everything perfect. I don?t know that this is anyone?s business and it has been hard for me to talk about, but I have been asked about several false narratives lately that she had done something wrong and I can?t live with anyone saying that anymore. I was in the safety vehicle beside her as she was slowing down when the accident happened, I watched the accident live as well as the onboard footage that was recovered. I can 100% tell you beyond any doubt that she did everything exactly as she was supposed to.

Offline tallguy

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Re: Any news on what caused the North American Eagle F104 - Jessi Combs crash?
« Reply #61 on: December 11, 2020, 02:12:31 AM »
Thank you for this information.  It seems to indicate that the malfunction (failure of suspension components)
occurred while Jessi was still on the smooth part of the track.  Whether a hidden rock caused this may never be
known.  I'd still like to know more about what was witnessed . . . such as whether a parachute was deployed on
this run of the car.