Nevada air crash today

[akphill]

Big air accident in Nevada today hope it wasn't anyone connected to one of us
I think it was the galloping ghost crashed taking several spectators with it
Pilot Jimmy Leeward

[19000rpm]

I think the only member with someone in the airshow circuit is dube's uncle with a reno racer. I think he lost a pilot and plane last year. This has not been a good airshow season either. 3 pilots dead and 50+ spectators, I think.

[McKrackin]

He was a veteran pilot...74 years old.

There's talk of cancelling the show.
You'd think in 1994 when two crashes killed two pilots,that it would have been cancelled..But no.
Then in 1998 when one of the planes crashed into a neighborhood,you'd think something would be done...nope.
Then in 1999 when another plane crashed into the neighborhood...surely now something will be done...They softened the turns.

You know,in 2007 and 2008 combined,four pilots have died in that show.

At least the local schools are CONSIDERING not taking students on their regular field trip to the show

Very tragic and it saddens me for real to think of the three people killed and the fifty injured.
MANY of those 50 are amputees and even multiple amputees.

[Raygun]

That is horrible

[Gabe]

Oh wow. You'd think that the government would step in or the FAA would have stopped this before it happens.

[coffinsnail]

From what i have heard noone dead and it was not pilot error it was aircraft problem, something unforseen (thats just the tid bits i heard so not sure)

[Raygun]

They have a picture of the elevator trim tab loose on the tail before impact that and the high G's and the pilots age could have caused a black out. In another picture he can no longer be seen in the cockpit there assuming he blacked out. It will all come out later.. Ray

[Gabe]

I heard pilot and 3 spectators dead. 50+ injured.

The spectator video that aired on the news was unbelievable. So sad.

[19000rpm]

Pilots and spectators have been dying at airshows forever. It's part of the risk they take for the thrills they all seek. Pilots and spectators alike.

Many times, airshow pilots have done everything in their power to prevent crashing into spectators to the extent of sacrificing their own lives. In some cases, like in Reno this week, the pilot and plane was out of control at the worst possible time. Whether it was mechanical, or some medical situation with the pilot, this time the result was a broad tragedy claiming many viticms. It's happened before, but it's rather rare. For the most part the pilot dies alone.

Certainly safety can be improved. But...
The only way to prevent air show accidents is to ban airshows or make them so boring no one would want to attend. I wouldn't sign up for that.

[Raygun]

Nine dead so far

[McKrackin]

Another fatal crash the following day....

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Two crashes at two air shows in two days, one that killed spectators, the other just the pilot far from fans. But there was another big difference — fire.

Nine people died and dozens more were injured when Jimmy Leeward's World War II-era P-51 Mustang slammed into a VIP box seat section at Friday's National Championship Air Races in Reno. The plane disintegrated into a cloud of dust and debris. Some of the injured described being coated in aviation fuel that burned their skin, but there were no flames, no fireball.

The next day at an air show across the country in West Virginia, a post-WWII plane flown by decorated Air Force pilot and instructor John "Jack" Mangan crashed and burst into flames before hundreds of stunned spectators. The pilot died but no fans were injured.

As investigators in both crashes worked to determine causes, pilots and experts were perplexed by the lack of explosion in Reno. It could have meant many more injured and killed.

"We are in the early stage of this investigation and will be looking at this as part of our investigation," National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams said Sunday.

Pilot Ray Sherwood of Placerville, Calif., who was at the Reno race, said it's been a hot topic of discussion.

"Everybody is talking about how surprised they are that it didn't go fireball," he said. "It's the big question, the big mystery ... no one knows why it didn't fireball."

[Raygun]

I was wondering that myself Ernie why was there not even a small fire anywhere did it hit with such impact that everything just dispersed till there was no large ignition source.. Ray

[19000rpm]

That lack of fire was a lucky coincidence in a horrific set of very unlucky coincidences. I don't think I've ever seen, or heard, of a crash like that not catching fire.

That second crash was like most air show crashes: Pilot dies and spectators look on in amazement. Probably a lot of spectators couldn't believe it happened, again, and some thinking how lucky they were it didn't turn out, for them, like it did for so many others at the first crash.

I've been to a lot of air shows. I've seen one crash. The crash was fatal to the pilot; as usual. It was a sobering and shocking point in time. When you're there it's not like on TV. You don't just see a crash and fire for a few seconds, you're in a crowd of people in shock, disbelief, grief and horror. The air is charged with it. It fades with time, but it is something you're likely to never forget.

After a while most avid air show crash spectators will rationalize the event and their part in it. Most of them will return to attend future shows; just like avid race fans return to car races after tragic accidents. The pull and excitement of the events; the skill of the participants, the competition, the awe of the precison machines involved and a myriad of other complex attractions to the sport usually wins out over the ever present potential for disaster. That's just the way it is.

[McKrackin]

Death toll up to 10 now with 70 injured and a few lives hanging in the balance still.

[19000rpm]

I'm sorry, but I think the media coverage and reaction to these events may be a little out of proprtion to what really has happened. But, what's new?

Not to diverge, but...Do you all remember that vid of the Aussie aerobatic helicopter flying in a stadium full of spectators shown on our forum a while back? Can you imagine the carnage if a bolt had come off, or a fatigued part gave way, during that exhibition? Now, that, to me, is an unbelievably dangerous and irresponsible show. It's like having a giant blender right in your face. Although, I have to admit, I'd like to have been there. Had to be great to see.

When planes are flying in a circuit in front of a crowd there is at least one point in the circuit, like in the Reno air race, for example, where the plane is aimed directly at the spectators. We're talking about a couple of tons at 500mph. Make 10-15 planes. They go around hundreds of times. All manner of opportunities for spectators to die, like strafing bullets arcing across a wide field, if the odds go out the window, of which, those odds are relatively low, so low, that they are infintessimal and the anomaly comes up. Like the driver that veers across three lanes of traffic and kills a bus load of rural high school football players on their way to their only away game. It happens.

Like mom said, any time you cross the street you might get run over...So, be careful. But, will careful save you, or is it just where you happen to be at any given moment?

Tomorrow it might be you crossing that street, or doing a bungee jump, or have a tricky branch to trim off of that 20' ladder. Will you get lucky? Or, just be at the wrong place at the wrong time?