http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rCNePeKn3Tg RENO, Nev. -- A plane plunged into the stands Friday at an air race event in Reno in what an official described as a "mass casualty situation." It wasn't immediately known how many people were killed, but a medical official said more than 75 people were injured. Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, said 25 people were critically injured and another 25 people were seriously injured in the crash. More than 25 more people were treated for minor injuries, she said. Kruse said the critically injured were considered to have life-threatening injuries. So far, 40 people have been taken to local hospitals by ambulance and one person has been flown to a hospital, she said. The P-51 Mustang plunged into the crashed into the box seat area at the front of the grandstand at the National Championship Air Races at about 4:30 p.m., said Mike Draper, a spokesman for the event. Draper identified the pilot as Jimmy Leeward (pictured). 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." 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 off the sagebrush at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph. Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft.
Re: Airplace Crashes into Crowd- 75+ Casualties God damn it! Will they please stop flying old war birds!?! At worst the plane fails and the pilot kills himself and destroys a priceless piece of history, at worst this happens and there are mass casualties. Seriously, they need to stop.
Re: Airplace Crashes into Crowd- 75+ Casualties Well, there really isn't a "best" in this scenario....
Re: Airplace Crashes into Crowd- 75+ Casualties I don't care who flies it... the planes are 70+ years old. They're antiques. They break down just like any other antique piece of machinery, but unlike a classic car it doesn't just coast to the side of the road. It crashes and can never be repaired again. The FAA should just ground all planes that are over a certain age.
Re: Airplace Crashes into Crowd- 75+ Casualties That's kind of a terrible analogy. Planes break all the time, they don't always fall out of the sky when they do. And classic cars can be involved in fiery fatal crashes too. barfo
Re: Airplace Crashes into Crowd- 75+ Casualties Classic warbirds don't break all the time. There aren't that many of them left.
Nearly all plane crashes involving pilots over 65 years of age are due to pilot error or pilot illness/death. This why the International Standard Mandatory Retirement Age for commercial pilots is 65. It used to be 60 but was raised in 2006 (2007 in the US) simply due to political influence. A well-maintained P-51 Mustang is every bit as reliable as a modern day Cessna, if not more so. As long as the pilot is still sharp as a tack. The reason they are rare is because senile and feeble old farts keep driving them into the ground.
http://www.ktvz.com/news/23555318/detail.html http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/08/colorado_couple_die_in_central.html http://www.kval.com/news/local/93948009.html http://www.krem.com/news/northwest-news/Pilot-survives-plane-crash-into-Oregon-home-102184889.html http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1160041/pg1
I'm not disagreeing with you, but I also think that those planes shouldn't be flying in the first place.
