Plane crashes into crowd at Reno air races
Scores injured when P-51 goes down into seating area in front of grandstand
A plane crashed into a seating area Friday at the annual Reno air races on Friday, injuring more than 75 people, 25 critically, officials said. There was no immediate word on deaths.
The accident happened just before 4:30 p.m. during the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport, KTVN-TV reported.
Witnesses told KTVN that planes in the Unlimited race were ascending when one aircraft started to nose-dive and then crashed near a spectator stand in the southeast corner. KTVN said the aircraft was a World War II-era P-51.
An official described the scene to KRNV-TV as "a mass-casualty situation."
A medical official said more than 75 people were injured, 25 critically, The Associated Press reported.
Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez told the Reno Gazette-Journal earlier there were at least 30 serious and 30 intermediate injuries.
Local TV stations aired videotape of the scene that showed numerous people being treated at the scene or being carried on stretchers to ambulances. What appeared to be debris from the crash was strewn through a seating area in front of the grandstands. A line of military jets could be seen in the background.
Airport and military crews were evacuating the area.
KOLO-TV reported that the plane that crashed was named Galloping Ghost and was piloted by Jimmy Leeward, described by other media as an 80-year-old real estate developer from Ocala, Fla.
The plane went down soon after take-off during the beginning of the Unlimited race, the KOLO reported.
"It was in the Unlimited Gold race on about the second lap when the third-place aircraft, No. 177, the Galloping Ghost flown by Jimmy Leeward experienced mechanical problems,” said Tim O'Brien, a Grass Valley resident on assignment at the races for The Union newspaper. “The plane vaulted violently upward, followed by a dive straight into the front of the reserve grandstands.
“There were hundreds of people in the stands. There are definitely casualties," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "The plane disintegrated and there are scores of ambulances out there right now.”
The competition at the National Championship Air Races and Air Show is done in six classes of aircraft, the races’ website says. The unlimited class “has generally been populated by stock or modified WWII fighters with the P-51 Mustangs, F-8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Fury being flown most often. The Unlimited Class flies in speeds exceeding 500 mph,” the website says.
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The situation at Reno-Stead Airport is described as a "mass casualty event" by Mike Draper, a spokesman for the Reno National Championship Air Races. Draper could not provide specific numbers but said emergency protocol is being followed.
He said the pilot of the crashed aircraft is Jimmy Leeward, piloting the Galloping Ghost. He could provide no information about the pilot's condition.
Witnesses to today’s crash at the Reno National Championship Air Races are describing a horrific scene, with multiple fatalities and body parts strewn across the tarmac at Reno-Stead Airport.
“It’s just like a massacre. It’s like a bomb went off,” said Dr. Gerald Lent of Reno, who witnessed the crash. “There are people lying all over the runway.”
The only thing the Korean War veteran could compare the scene to was combat.
“One guy was cut in half. There’s blood everywhere,” Lent said. “There’s arms and legs. One guy just said ‘hey, there’s another foot over here.”
Lent said the P-51 fighter was racing when the aircraft pulled straight up, made a roll and “went right into the audience” in the VIP area.
Juan Echeverria, 37, of Sparks, said he was about 100 feet away when the World War II-era fighter went down.
“The guy lost control, shot straight up into the air and came down into the people,” Echeverria said. “It hit full force, full throttle.”
The plane did not explode but “just disintegrated into debris,” Echeverria said. “There’s a huge crater where it hit.”
Echeverria described a horrific scene.
“It’s shocking,” he said. “The scene is very gruesome.”
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