__ Loud Airplanes Save Lives <= crash helmets ineffective __

Another Fatal Crash At Reno Air Races

POSTED: 11:20 am PDT September 14, 2007
UPDATED: 5:55 pm PDT September 14, 2007

RENO -- Two airplanes collided in the air Friday at the Reno National
Championship Air Races, killing one pilot and injuring another in the third
fatal crash there in four days.

Five-time defending champion Gary Hubler, 51, Caldwell, Idaho, was killed in the
crash shortly after 9:30 a.m. at the Stead Airport just north of Reno, race
officials said.

It marked the 18th fatality in the 44-year history of the air races. It also
prompted the suspension of the competition the rest of Friday, but race
officials said it would resume Saturday as scheduled.

The pilot of the other plane involved in the accident, Jason Somes of Simi
Valley, Calif., was taken to Renown Regional Medical Center with non-life
threatening injuries. A friend said he was being treated for an eye injury.

Hubler's plane apparently clipped the back of Somes' plane before crashing.
Somes was able to land his damaged aircraft, race officials said.

"They just clipped wings barely," said Carter Fox, who witnessed the crash. "One
immediately went down to the ground."

Two judges on the ground also suffered minor injuries from flying debris. One
refused medical attention and the other was treated at the scene.

Students on a field trip from seven elementary schools were among the fans at
the races when the crash occurred. Washoe County School District spokesman Steve
Mulvenon said counselors were being made available to talk to children who
witnessed the tragedy.

The races are like a car race in the sky, following an oval path over the
airport runway and around pylon markers at various distances and sometimes
within a few hundred feet of the ground.

Competing in the Forumla One class, Hubler was flying a Cassutt III M
single-seat plane named "Mariah," which is designed for pylon racing and aerial
acrobatics.

Hubler started competing in the Reno races in 1984. During Thursday's first
heat, he reached a top speed of 259 mph, according to the air races' Web site.

Two pilots were killed in accidents on Tuesday and Thursday, the first time
since 1993 there has been more than one fatal crash at the races in the same
year.

"This is highly unusual," said Michael Houghton, president of the air races.

Brad Morehouse of Afton, Wyo., was "killed instantly" when his jet crashed about
2:45 p.m. Tuesday, touching off a small brush fire along the runway, Houghton
said.

Morehouse, co-owner of Afton Flight Service in Wyoming, was flying an L-39
Albatross he named "Dino Juice," a jet often used for military flight training.

He was flying in the second heat of the jet class competition. He had finished
fourth in Wednesday's qualifying round, reaching a maximum speed of 504 mph,
race officials said.

The cause of that crash was under investigation but race officials said the
initial indication was Morehouse may have gotten caught in the wake of a jet he
was tailing.

Steve Dari, a pilot from Lemon Grove, Calif., was killed when his biplane
stalled shortly after takeoff during a practice run at the air races on Tuesday.
His fatal crash had been the first at the races since 2002.

 

"Mulvenon said counselors were being made available to talk to children who
witnessed the tragedy."


This is so lame. Any student old enough to be interested
in such a race, is certainly old enough to understand and
comprehend, and deal with such a tragedy.

 

Cross posting about air shows to motorcycle groups, THAT's what's wrong
with America today.

 

What is worse IMHO is the students were there in the first place.
When I was in school we had plenty of field trips but they were
to educational sites, not to entertainment. I really fail to imagine
what the lesson plan of the day would have been for an air race.

Ted

 

Well, in hindsight, probably "stay the f*ck away from planes" for this
particular trip.

Field trips don't have to be strictly educational in my view, a trip to an
air show can be an inspirational experience (particularly for the boys).
Someone might catch the virus and realise they want to become a pilot or an
engineer.

Geo

 

And this comes from what modern study of juvenile developmental
psychology ?

 

That children today receive the psycho-emotional counseling that
knuckle-draggin' Neanderthals like you didn't ?

 

Yeah, no science at all involved in aerodynamic flight ... LOL!

Are all bikers as pig-ignorant as you are, numbnuts?

 

In the old days he was just fired and sent to work at the Post Office ...