Posted on 07/02/2022 2:05:43 PM PDT by DFG
A driver is dead after his jet truck was engulfed in flames when he released his parachute while racing planes going 300mphs.
The driver was killed during the 'pyrotechnic' event at the Battle Creek Air Show in Michigan shortly after 1pm on Saturday, police confirmed.
Witnesses say the Shockwave jet truck was racing two planes that were going 300 mph. When the driver deployed his parachute, the truck reportedly engulfed in flames and a large plume of black smoke.
'[The driver] was doing his show and going down the runway,' Suze Gusching, media relations for Field of Flight told the Battle Creek Enquirer. 'He passed by the explosion, and his truck had exploded.'
Video of the incident shows a large explosion happening right before the truck barreled into it. As the vehicle came flying out of the other side, it significantly slowed and was covered in thick smoke.
Chris Darnell is listed as the driver of the Shockwave Jet Truck on the company's website. His brother Neal, who pilots the Flash Fire Jet Truck, declined to comment when reached by Daily Mail.com
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Died doing what he Loved? A common saying in an event like that.
Here, Hold my Beer Alert.
Probably should have raced a biplane, or a hot air balloon, instead...
Im going to give this guy a pass in the idiot Darwin Award category. He had skills and ballz and had to know the risks.
So you’re saying that the spectators got their money’s worth.
If I’ve read this correctly an unrelated explosion occurred ahead of his course and he drove through it (unavoidable at 300 mph I suppose) caught fire and then the truck blew up.
What EXACTLY did he ‘run into’?
How awful! We’ve seen this outfit at airshows. Hard to imagine.
I agree.
Better to go like that then COVID19 or something.
Driver?
You did better than I could with the text but the video does show an explosion ahead of the truck which then passes through the flames. Very brief.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpR1JINiAT4
The Truck didn’t “Explode”.
It looks like a typical drag racing end-swap rollover crash.
The Explosion was a pyrotechnic that had nothing to do with the crash.
Yikes. RIP.
The back end of the truck was coming around whan he pulled the shoots, but that wasn’t enough to stop the spin.
It spun off the runway and rolled multiple times.
250 mph roll overs in a vehicle that large are hard to survive.
What a way to go. “He died with his boots on”
Is the size of the vehicle really the decisive factor when one rolls at 250 mph?
You bet, it appears to be an explosion way in front of the truck..Might have been something ejected forward off the truck but it didn’t look like it.
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