I'm not 100%, but today there was a "re-enacted" race that flew without incident until the pair of P-51's came into land. They were landing 36 and the one came in too close to the other and hit him in the back while both aircraft were on the runway. I'm not sure which was which or what pilot it was, but one flipped over. But that's part I can back up. The word of mouth was that one of the pilots did die(assuming the one in the plane that flipped upside down). I couldn't find anything right away as I got home, so I can't confirm all the details of this, but there were many people, including the line-personal that got word of it and the stories were all the same.

 

Doesn't the EAA kill someone every year at Oshkosh? I was there (briefly) once and couldn't believe what the EAA classified as VFR... absolutely ridiculous. It made me nervous even to be too close to the runway or fly a KingAir (B100) in the surrounding airspace... even with IFR separation.

 

here is the article on cnn..

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/air....ap/index.html

 

Don't blame it on the EAA, it's the PIC's decision to continue or land at an alternate. It is the largest concentration of planes in the world, so yeah it's going to be busy. We flew a Cheyenne in yesterday, so I know a little where you're coming from, but we were VFR inbound off the lake. We were within the first 10 aircraft arriving and were playing cat and mouse with a Sea-King helicopter that wasn't doing an arrival but direct the field. There were plenty of things going on, it is hectic, but as long as you follow the procedures everybody is fine. Now the departures last night were even more hectic. Due to the accident, they didn't reopen the airport until about 7:40 local to departures. I'm not sure if everyone made it out that was in line, but they did keep things going past 8pm to help get folks out that wanted to depart. It also didn't help that there was a C-117 that had landed on 9/27 due to the accident, and they had to get him out before they could let everyone else out. I believe he was intending to use 36 as to position over with the other military aircraft in Aeroshell square, but couldn't because the clean-up was still in progress.

Leo thanks for the article, none of us ever saw what exactly happened. RIP to our fellow aviator.

 

I had met that pilot a few weeks ago, as he was setup with his P-51A right next to our booth at the Lost Nation Air Show. Shocking to think that he's gone now. Have a peaceful journey west sir.

 

Wow...I just saw who was in that accident:

Gerald S. Beck, 58, of Wahpeton, North Dakota, died and the other pilot, 24-year-old Casey Odegaard of Kindred, North Dakota, suffered minor injuries when the planes clipped wings on landing.

I just saw those guys at the Fargo Airsho last month. I guess it kind of hits home when you actually know how talented these guys were...it can still happen to the best!