More than 75 injured in air race crash in Reno

[jaxx]

Official: More than 75 injured in air race crash

Sep 16, 8:55 PM (ET)

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A World War II era fighter plane plunged into the grandstands Friday during a popular annual air show, injuring at least 75 spectators and leaving a horrific scene of bodies and wreckage.

It wasn't immediately known if anyone died in the crash but a spokesman for the event called it a "mass casualty event." Video showed a chaotic scene with several people apparently badly wounded.

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.

<..> 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.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/2011091...V0080.html

edit>> This video does NOT show the injured, but it does show the crash.
Plane Crash at Reno Air Race 2011

What a terrible accident. So many people hurt.

[Born_A_Truman]

One of my friends' husband and father-in-law are at the air show. She posted about the crash before anything was on the news. They were 150 feet from impact and were covered in fuel and hit with shrapnel. Very shook up and it is a horrible scene.

[jaxx]

I'm glad they are alive. I just watched a video that shows the injured.....it is horrific. It looked like it took 9 minutes to get stretchers in there. I noticed one fire truck and one ambulance in the infield before the plane crashed. No crowd control, people wandering all over.

[Born_A_Truman]

9 minutes is an eternity when you are critically injured. I am surprised there weren't more ambulances on hand for the race itself. This is just tragic. Rachel is covering.

[There Is No Spoon]

Holy crap, what a scene - Rachel is on MSNBC now reporting on this.

[jaxx]

It's awful. So many hurt, not knowing how many have been killed.

[jaxx]

If you are still watching Rachel there is to be a news briefing very soon that they will carry live. She also just said that 2 people have died at one of the medical centers the injured were sent to.

[There Is No Spoon]

Wow, pilot was 80 years old! We were amazed last week at the dragstrip discussing an 80 year old who was still drag racing using high-end race gas.

So far 2 confirmed dead, but many more are in critical condition.

[azmouse]

(09-16-2011 08:18 PM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  Wow, pilot was 80 years old! We were amazed last week at the dragstrip discussing an 80 year old who was still drag racing using high-end race gas.

So far 2 confirmed dead, but many more are in critical condition.

My mom's boyfriend (don't know what else to call him but it sounds strange calling a man his age a 'boyfriend') is 80 and still flies a small airplane. The two of them go to a lot of these shows around the country. Makes me nervous to think of them flying around but what can I do...
Stories like this make me even more nervous.

[jaxx]

I posted last week about the Stearman bi-planes that come from all over and so many of the pilots are older people. Not that old, and they don't race but do some precision flying and tricks. Plus the racing planes at Reno are old bodies with souped up engines....supposed to have extra cables to stabilize.

[Born_A_Truman]

Photo: Longtime Reno Air Races pilot Jimmy Leeward on Sept. 15, 2010. A spokesman for Reno's National Championship Air Races said Leeward was flying the P-51 Mustang that crashed into a box-seat area at the front of the grandstand Friday. Credit: Marilyn Newton / Reno Gazette-Journal

===
Rachel has mentioned the plane was heavily modified. I read that his crew cut 10' off the body.

His FB page is so sad..."Watch the races live at http://airrace.org/video.php Jimmy is starting up right now". FB wall post 3 hours ago.

[jaxx]

56 listed as injured. No count on deaths. Saying the pilot was 74, health checked out.

[jaxx]

Update Sat.:

NTSB on scene of deadly Nevada air crash

<..> National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams told The Associated Press Saturday that it was too early to say what caused the crash.

The death toll remained at 3 on Saturday, after earlier confusion over the number of victims at Renown Regional Medical Center, according the Reno Gazette-Journal.

More than 50 were injured and it was feared the death toll could rise even higher. A status check from the Reno hospital showed six people were listed in critical condition and two others were listed as serious, according to the Reno newspaper.

<..> "It came down directly at us. As I looked down, I saw the spinner, the wings, the canopy just coming right at us. It hit directly in front of us, probably 50 to 75 feet," Ryan Harris, of Round Mountain, Nev., told the AP. "The next thing I saw was a wall of debris going up in the air. That's what I got splashed with. In the wall of debris noticed there were pieces of flesh."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44556695/ns/...nT_pOx5p7k

This has now been updated to include the info on the 9 deaths. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44556695/ns/...nUCl-x5p7k

[jaxx]

Update #2:

Reno air races crash: Death toll climbs to 9, including pilot
September 17, 2011 | 1:23 pm

The death toll in the Reno air races crash climbed to nine, including the pilot, police officials said Saturday.

At an afternoon briefing, Reno Deputy Police Chief Dave Evans told reporters that two people were reported dead at local hospitals. Seven others, including pilot Jimmy Leeward, died when the P-51 Mustang hit the tarmac, he said.

Evans spoke to reporters in a news conference at the Reno-Stead airport where investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board briefed the media. The NTSB is the lead investigative agency.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationno...air-crash/

I should have included the information that 9 have died in that crash.