Transmission Tower 1 approach. On centerline, caught the three wire. Fortunately the occupants survived with injuries.


https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-new...s-in-maryland/

Reminds me of the VA ANG Thud that struck a guy wire on a CATV antenna in eastern NC, ll those many years ago. Happened on Super Bowl Sunday, no one in eastern NC watched the game. Thud landed back at RIC.

Also reminiscent of the Marine EA-6b crew who cut the wire for a gondola in Italy and supposedly never even realized it. Italians are still ****ed about that.

Kind of understandable. They were flat-hatting in a big way, and a bunch of civilians died.

Maryland State Police identified the pilot as Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington and his passenger as Janet Williams, 66, of Louisiana.
A D.C. pilot with the same name and age survived at least one crash before. On Aug. 4, 1992, a single-engine plane piloted by Patrick Merkle struck the side of a mountain in Farmington Canyon, Utah, according to an account in the Salt Lake Tribune. Part of the wings and tail section were ripped off as the plane flew through pine trees, the newspaper account said, and the fuselage crashed into the side of the mountain.

Shall I mention Flugtag 1988? Wasn’t that the French Tricolori involved in that little mishap? The Italian military demonstration team? 70 dead and 500 injured? Mostly civilians?


https://youtu.be/a5XfMvTal24

You can't park there!

Photo of the pilot...

The airshow was authorized. The spectators knew they were attending an airshow. Kind of like NASCAR.

Nobody every concluded that the pilots made any grossly negligent deviations from their program or rules. Not the same by a long shot. They were executing a challenging maneuver, and somebody just wasn't quite up to it on that day.

Flugtag was a systemic issue, and airshows are organized differently today. Air races too, but they had to learn that lesson for themselves.

Pretty tough Mooney and transmission tower, I bet it was impressive going from roughly 100 mph to 0 in about 5 feet!