Alf Vien is the flight base operator for the Cleveland Municipal Airport, a position he has held for over two decades. Vien witnessed the September 16 crash at the Reno Air Race Championship, which has so far resulted in the deaths of ten people.
The director of the Cleveland Municipal Airport, Alf Vien, witnessed the National Air Race Championship at Reno, Nevada firsthand on Sept. 16.
Vien was at the event to offer support for his friend, Ernie Sutter, who competed and won the Sport Class Silver Heat on Friday with an average lap speed around 295 mph.
“It was great to watch but unfortunately that may be the last "Silver Race" as we know it due to the crash,” he said.
Vein described the crash of the World War II era P-51 named "Galloping Ghost" as “horrendous.”
He explained that after his friend, Sutter, had won his race, he told him he was going to the stands to watch the final races of the day. Vien said that he saw the plane descend at a sharp angle and crashed towards the airport runway instead of the audience.
“All of the debris flew at the airport and not at the crowd,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. It was a very sad way to end the day with great loss and grief for many families.”
Vein said that following the crash, the emergency personnel responded quickly.
“I was totally impressed by the first responders,” he said. “I have never seen anything quite as orderly within chaos as this. Every one of those guys should be congratulated. Medical volunteers were called out of the crowd and within minutes ambulances and choppers were moving victims out. An evacuation plan was put into place and the crowd was hustled off the airport onto detour routes moving everyone out to Hwy 395.”
Some of the event attendees even assisted with the emergency efforts.
“There was a man in a Huey helicopter there that gassed it up and took people to the hospital in it,” said Vein.
He explained that the helicopter was originally just on display at the event and wasn’t meant to transport anyone during the event. The pilot saw the need and used it to get the injured to medical treatment quickly.
Vein said that he has been attending the air race for several years with his friends.
“I feel the races may be shut down for a couple of seasons,” he said. “I really hope not though. All of the safety measures were tremendous. People are going to have knee-jerk reactions to stop races, but there are dangers everywhere.”
He used the analogy of the danger of getting hit in the head by a line drive at a baseball game as an example.
Vein said that he did not know for certain what caused the crash, but guessed that mechanical failure was the reason.
“You can’t fault the pilot if something breaks on the airplane,” he said. “It was just a tragedy.”
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