Canberra Times
A
vintage World War II fighter plane crashed near the grandstand at a Nevada air
race on Friday, killing the octogenarian pilot and injuring dozens of people,
officials said.
There was no
immediate word on how many other people may have died in the crash at the Reno
Air Races, although a spokesman for the event called it a "mass casualty
situation" in a written statement.
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| photo: AP / Ward Howes |
The plane, a P-51
Mustang dubbed the "Galloping Ghost" that was being piloted by Jimmy
Leeward, crashed into a box seat area in front of the main grandstand at about
4.20p., Mike Draper of the public relations firm R&R Partners said.
A Federal Aviation
Administration official said separately that multiple fatalities and critical
injuries were reported.
Vi deo apparently
taken from the stands and posted on YouTube showed a plane plunging nose-down
into the tarmac as spectators were heard gasping: "Oh, my God."
Debris billowed near
the crash site, and officials then told attendees to remain where they were so
emergency workers could get to the scene.
The head of the Reno
Air Racing Association, Michael Houghton, put the number of injured at between
40 and 50 people and said the pilot was killed, but had no information on other
fatalities.
He said Leeward, a
well-known real estate developer and pilot who maintained an air-ranch in
Ocala, Florida, was his good friend.
'GALLOPING
GHOST'
In a June video
posted at the website for the air race, Leeward said the Galloping Ghost raced
from 1946 to 1950 in the Cleveland Air Races and afterward in other events.
He said his crew cut
10 feet off the plane's length and made other modifications to improve its
aerodynamic abilities and reach speeds of 500 mph.
"I know it will
do the speed, the systems aren't proven yet. We think they're going to be
OK," Leeward said in the video dating from June.
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