Today, a day after the tragedy in Reno, a stunt pilot died when his plane crashed and burst into flames.
From The Journalnews.net: The pilot of an airplane was killed in a fiery crash Saturday afternoon while he was performing in the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge airshow at the Eastern Regional Airport.
"The aircraft was piloted by a single civilian pilot, who died as a result of the crash," West Virginia National Guard Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer read from a prepared statement during a news conference Saturday evening at the Army Guard Armory on Kelly Island Road.
"The plane was a T-28 aircraft with the Trojan Horse T-28 demonstration team, a civilian aerobatics group that tours the nation performing at airshows," Hoyer continued. "Pending confirmation of the notification of the next of kin through official channels, no identifying information will be released."
An eyewitness said he saw the plane wobble after it had just finished a maneuver and then go straight into the ground.
The crowd immediately became hushed. Many in the audience hugged loved ones, silently cried and prayed with eyes closed and hands folded.
The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department had secured the area, and the FAA was in charge of the crash scene.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was en route from Miami and was expected to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., Saturday night. The investigator was expected in Martinsburg this morning. A news conference is planned for 5 p.m. today.
Several fire trucks and emergency vehicles swarmed the scene almost immediately after the accident, which happened at 2:32 p.m. near the west end of the runway.
"I am particularly proud of the response of our emergency personnel - they did an outstanding job," Hoyer said.
About four minutes into the performance, the pilot completed a knife-edge pass with another member of the team, which is flying the plane on its side while the two planes fly by each other, and was rolling back toward the airstrip when it slammed into the ground between the taxiway and the runway, which is at a bit of an incline.
The plane instantly disintegrated in an explosion of flames.
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/567758/Tragedy--Plane-crashes-at-airshow--pilot-killed.html?nav=5006
This is at least the 4th fatal accident this year at air shows. Earlier, we had a crash of a wing walker killed in Michigan (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/21/wing-walker-dies-after-fall-at-michigan-air-show/ ) and earlier than that, another plane crashed when it flopped onto the runway in Kansas City, similar to this.
http://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.com/2011/08/video-airplane-crash-at-kansas-city-air.html
Even fighter pilots have crashed this year in Nevada and Wisconsin. Then in 2007, a Navy Blue Angel was killed in a crash in South Carolina, during an air show.
In Ramstein, Germany, 3 pilots and 67 spectators died in an air show crash of jet fighters.
Wiki has a list of air show crashes and incidents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airshow_accidents_and_incidents
Air shows have risk involved, but I do not recall a time frame in which there have been so many accidents in such a short time. Most of the accidents have been pilot error at the shows, except for yesterday.
Short of banning air shows and races, I don't know how to make them safer for the pilots. As far as spectators, you can push them back from the runways, but then you lose the effect of speed and the feel of the thunder of the engines and speed.
I hope the NTSB takes a close look at these accidents but that they also don't go overboard and ban sir races and air shows. I just hope they use some common sense, something bureaucrats sometimes lack.
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