ky
Director of Manned Spaceflight
For anyone who hasn't heard in the chatbox:
RENO, Nev. — A World War II-era plane crashed into a seating area at the annual Reno air races on Friday, killing the pilot and possibly others and injuring at least 75 people. One official described the scene as a "mass-casualty situation."
Witnesses reported a horrific scene of blood and body parts strewn across the crash site.
The accident happened just before 4:30 p.m. during the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport, KTVN-TV reported.
Witnesses told KTVN that planes in the Unlimited race were ascending when one aircraft started to nose-dive and then crashed near a spectator stand in the southeast corner. KTVN said the aircraft was a vintage P-51.
The plane splintered into pieces, strewing debris into the nearby stands.
Mike Draper, a spokesman for the Reno National Championship Air Races, described the scene as "a mass-casualty situation."
Michael Houghton, president and CEO of the Reno Air Racing Association, told reporters Friday evening that the pilot, Jimmy Leeward, 80, was killed but he couldn't confirm how many others died, only that there were other casualties.
Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, told The Associated Press more than 75 people were injured, 25 critically.
Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez told the Reno Gazette-Journal earlier there were at least 30 serious and 30 intermediate injuries.
Local TV stations aired videotape of the scene that showed numerous people being treated at the scene or being carried on stretchers to ambulances. Debris from the crash was strewn through a seating area in front of the grandstands. A line of military jets could be seen in the background.
“It’s just like a massacre. It’s like a bomb went off,” said Dr. Gerald Lent of Reno, who witnessed the crash, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “There are people lying all over the runway.”
He added: “One guy was cut in half. There’s blood everywhere. There’s arms and legs."
Video apparently taken from the stands and posted on YouTube showed a plane crashing nose-down at the show after several other planes raced by in the air. Spectators could be heard gasping: "Oh my God."
The plane that crashed was named Galloping Ghost and was piloted by Leeward, an 80-year-old real estate developer from Ocala, Fla. Houghton said Leeward had been flying at the Reno air races since 1975.
Leeward flew into Reno for this year's air show and races with several members of his family and friends, race officials said.
The plane went down soon after take-off during the beginning of the Unlimited race, KOLO reported.
"It was in the Unlimited Gold race on about the second lap when the third-place aircraft, No. 177, the Galloping Ghost flown by Jimmy Leeward experienced mechanical problems,” said Tim O'Brien, a Grass Valley resident on assignment at the races for The Union newspaper. “The plane vaulted violently upward, followed by a dive straight into the front of the reserve grandstands.
“There were hundreds of people in the stands. There are definitely casualties," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Jeff Martinez, a KRNV weatherman, was just outside the air race grounds at the time of the crash. He said he saw the plane veer to the right and then "it just augered straight into the ground."
"You saw pieces and parts going everywhere," he said. "Everyone is in disbelief."
Another witness told KRNV that the plane came down in a section of box seats near the grandstands and disintegrated on impact, spewing debris hundreds of feet in the air.
The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people every year in September to watch various military and civilian planes race.
The races have attracted scrutiny in the past over safety concerns, including four pilots killed in 2007 and 2008. It was such a concern that local school officials once considered whether they should not allow student field trips at the event.
The competition is like a car race in the sky, with planes flying wingtip-to-wingtip as low as 50 feet (15.2 meters) off the sagebrush at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph (800 kph). Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft.
The competition is done in six classes of aircraft, the races’ website says. The unlimited class “has generally been populated by stock or modified WWII fighters with the P-51 Mustangs, F-8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Fury being flown most often. The Unlimited Class flies in speeds exceeding 500 mph,” the website says.
Video of crash
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44556695/ns/us_news-life/#.TnP7Z-x0iSo
Thanks to iamwearingpants for originally informing us
RENO, Nev. — A World War II-era plane crashed into a seating area at the annual Reno air races on Friday, killing the pilot and possibly others and injuring at least 75 people. One official described the scene as a "mass-casualty situation."
Witnesses reported a horrific scene of blood and body parts strewn across the crash site.
The accident happened just before 4:30 p.m. during the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport, KTVN-TV reported.
Witnesses told KTVN that planes in the Unlimited race were ascending when one aircraft started to nose-dive and then crashed near a spectator stand in the southeast corner. KTVN said the aircraft was a vintage P-51.
The plane splintered into pieces, strewing debris into the nearby stands.
Mike Draper, a spokesman for the Reno National Championship Air Races, described the scene as "a mass-casualty situation."
Michael Houghton, president and CEO of the Reno Air Racing Association, told reporters Friday evening that the pilot, Jimmy Leeward, 80, was killed but he couldn't confirm how many others died, only that there were other casualties.
Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, told The Associated Press more than 75 people were injured, 25 critically.
Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez told the Reno Gazette-Journal earlier there were at least 30 serious and 30 intermediate injuries.
Local TV stations aired videotape of the scene that showed numerous people being treated at the scene or being carried on stretchers to ambulances. Debris from the crash was strewn through a seating area in front of the grandstands. A line of military jets could be seen in the background.
“It’s just like a massacre. It’s like a bomb went off,” said Dr. Gerald Lent of Reno, who witnessed the crash, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “There are people lying all over the runway.”
He added: “One guy was cut in half. There’s blood everywhere. There’s arms and legs."
Video apparently taken from the stands and posted on YouTube showed a plane crashing nose-down at the show after several other planes raced by in the air. Spectators could be heard gasping: "Oh my God."
The plane that crashed was named Galloping Ghost and was piloted by Leeward, an 80-year-old real estate developer from Ocala, Fla. Houghton said Leeward had been flying at the Reno air races since 1975.
Leeward flew into Reno for this year's air show and races with several members of his family and friends, race officials said.
The plane went down soon after take-off during the beginning of the Unlimited race, KOLO reported.
"It was in the Unlimited Gold race on about the second lap when the third-place aircraft, No. 177, the Galloping Ghost flown by Jimmy Leeward experienced mechanical problems,” said Tim O'Brien, a Grass Valley resident on assignment at the races for The Union newspaper. “The plane vaulted violently upward, followed by a dive straight into the front of the reserve grandstands.
“There were hundreds of people in the stands. There are definitely casualties," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Jeff Martinez, a KRNV weatherman, was just outside the air race grounds at the time of the crash. He said he saw the plane veer to the right and then "it just augered straight into the ground."
"You saw pieces and parts going everywhere," he said. "Everyone is in disbelief."
Another witness told KRNV that the plane came down in a section of box seats near the grandstands and disintegrated on impact, spewing debris hundreds of feet in the air.
The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people every year in September to watch various military and civilian planes race.
The races have attracted scrutiny in the past over safety concerns, including four pilots killed in 2007 and 2008. It was such a concern that local school officials once considered whether they should not allow student field trips at the event.
The competition is like a car race in the sky, with planes flying wingtip-to-wingtip as low as 50 feet (15.2 meters) off the sagebrush at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph (800 kph). Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft.
The competition is done in six classes of aircraft, the races’ website says. The unlimited class “has generally been populated by stock or modified WWII fighters with the P-51 Mustangs, F-8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Fury being flown most often. The Unlimited Class flies in speeds exceeding 500 mph,” the website says.
Video of crash
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44556695/ns/us_news-life/#.TnP7Z-x0iSo
Thanks to iamwearingpants for originally informing us
