Posted on 09/08/2007 8:24:17 AM PDT by Half Vast Conspiracy
An acrobatic pilot crashed a vintage era plane during a preshow practice Friday afternoon at Oceana Naval Air Station, killing the veteran flier and shocking several hundred fans and students gathered for the opening of the base's annual air show.
Jan Wildbergh, a veteran pilot for the Geico Skytypers, was killed when his silver and red World War II SNJ-2 plane dropped suddenly during a final maneuver, crashed into a grass strip beside a runway at 12:25 p.m. and burst into flames.
It's the first casualty in the more than six decades of air shows at the Virginia Beach base, base spokesman Troy Snead said.
It is the sixth fatal air show crash in the United States since March, including two other performers scheduled to have appeared at Oceana for this weekend's show.
Capt. Mark Hunter, the base's commanding officer, acknowledged the crash in a brief statement Friday afternoon but provided few details.
The air show, one of the largest in the country, would continue as planned, he said.
About three hours after the fatal crash, the Blue Angels took to the skies for a performance. Gates opened to the general public at 5:30 p.m. as scheduled.
The flight line on Friday afternoon was filled with several hundred photographers and school children watching performers practice for Friday night's opening.
Witnesses, many of whom attend multiple air shows each year around the country, described the crash as an unusual moment for the well-practiced and precise acrobatic team.
The team flies dozens of events around the country in the small, restored planes, filling the sky with enormous smoke letters and designs, according to its Web site.
Video: Before and after the crash. Courtesy of WTKR
The five planes flew side by side over the Oceana air strip, peeling off one by one to again form a single-file line for a final approach and landing.
Jack Lefkowitz watched from a grandstand about three-quarters of a mile away. The maneuver seemed so routine that he looked away after three planes had turned, he said.
Then he heard the crackle on his hand-held scanner: "Plane down."
The prop plane descended at a low angle and dropped beneath the tree line when it should have been climbing.
Jay Rotsch, who traveled from Canada to photograph the show with his brother and friend, watched in disbelief as the small plane pancaked and dissolved into a stream of fire and smoke reaching almost 50 feet in the air.
Rotsch held his camera but did not click the shutter.
"Maybe I didn't want to have a picture of it," he said. "It's a horrible thing."
James Cardi, a 42-year-old freelance photographer from Deer Park, N.Y., watched from an observation point on Oceana Boulevard.
Four of the planes continued to circle, he said. One never peeled off and continued straight when it crashed, he said. "He must have been losing speed because the wings were moving around," Cardi said.
Thirty seconds later, thick black smoke appeared that looked like a mushroom cloud. Then the smoke was gone. "Nobody thought it was serious," Cardi said. "We thought it was part of the show."
Marylou Atwell, who drove from Delaware with Lefkowitz, her boyfriend, watched from the grandstand as the crash unfolded.
"I went into panic mode. I was crying," she said. "When I saw the smoke going up, there was no way... " she said, shaking her head.
Spectators were cleared from the stands, and air show operations were halted.
Two other scheduled performers, Blue Angel pilot Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis and stunt pilot Jim LeRoy, were killed in crashes earlier this year. The Navy is still investigating Davis' crash, which occurred April 21 over Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station in South Carolina.
After that incident, some Virginia Beach residents had expressed concern about the possibility of a crash, and they spoke with elected leaders and Navy officials about the acrobatic flying around the heavily encroached Navy air station.
On Friday, Beach residents expressed shock and concern. In a neighborhood at the northern edge of the base, on Potters Road, residents said the crash was too close. Video: Oceana commander's official statement
Background: Worry over Oceana show's risks is in the air
Calendar: Air show details
Web links: GEICO Skytypers Oceana Air Show
"The noise does not bother me because I have lived in Virginia Beach all of my life," said P. Jones, 49, from her home near First Colonial Road. "When you hear about accidents and the possibility of accidents, it makes you a little uneasy."
"I have to stay prayed up," Jones added. "Oceana is in the middle of the residences and businesses. It's scary sometimes. That could have been someone's house or someone's business. It's close."
Her neighbor, Warren Thomas, 17, echoed those sentiments. "I don't want a plane crashing into my house," Thomas said.
Wildbergh, who was in his early 70s, was well aware of the risks - and consequences - of flying in air shows.
In April, a day after Davis died in South Carolina, Wildbergh climbed into his single-engine World War II-era plane to pay homage to the Blue Angel pilot.
Six Skytyper planes took to the sky that day in Beaufort, flying in a V-shaped formation. Wildbergh, at the controls in the No. 6 plane, peeled off in honor of Davis, who piloted the Blue Angels' No. 6
F/A-18 Hornet.
He said afterward that air show pilots can't allow crashes to distract them from their own flights.
"You cannot let yourself be mentally devastated by an accident," Wildbergh told The Beaufort Gazette in April. "You have to get it out of your head.... And that's not being callous; if someone didn't want to fly, we would not make them."
A family friend, Sonja Forrer Garringer, said Wildbergh was an accomplished pilot who enjoyed his grandchildren.
"All the women swooned over him," said Garringer, who lives in Virginia Beach just two miles from Oceana.
She said he died doing what he loved to do.
Wildbergh admitted as much in the newspaper interview.
"Nobody likes to buy the farm," he said. "But if you've got to buy it, it's a good way to go."
Staff writers Duane Bourne, Cindy Clayton, John-Henry Doucette and Kate Wiltrout contributed to this report.
Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com
Amen
The show dis go on, though. The Blue Angles were great, as always, but the USAF F-22 stole the show!
Could have lost the engine I suppose and was just doing his best to bring it in, but it didn't look like that.
And that's about all one can ask for when it's their time to go.
That was my thought. I haven't seen a video though.
I once attended some years ago (as a member of the press corp even though I wasn’t) the Oceana Air Show where the Blue Angels and the Canadian Thunderbirds were featured. I was duly impressed.
The Blue Angels put my USAF Thunderbirds to shame. I hate to say it!
The SNJ, by North American Aviation, a two-place advanced trainer, was the classroom for most of the Allied pilots who flew in World War II. Called the T-6 Texan by the Army Aircorp, the Harvard by the RAF, and affectionately known as “the pilot maker” by its crews, the SNJ was designed as a transition trainer between basic trainers and first-line tactical aircraft.
In all, the SNJ trained several hundred thousand pilots in 34 different countries. A total of 15,495 of the planes were made. Though most famous as a trainer, the SNJ also won honors in World War II and in the early days of the Korean War.
This one was a variant - one of 11 left in service.
One would hope that crashes are unusual.
Due to its similarity to the Mitsubishi Zero and the SBD Dauntless dive bomber, Texans with modified canopies and tail sections have been used to film movies such as Tora Tora Tora and Midway.
I was in EOD, I sailed half way around the world, and now I am flying. If I die, I hope it is in my sleep or on the operating table when I don’t know its coming.;
Ping
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
Ping
Prayers for his family...
The Thunderbirds are the USAF demonstration team. If you mean the Canadian team, they are the "Snowbirds"
Thanks. Had to have been the Snowbirds because it was definitely the Canadian group.
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