Sunday, September 18, 2011

Lubbock, Texas: Recent aircraft tragedies may have impact on local aircraft shows

The sights and sounds from the tragedy in Reno lingering with many. A P-51 mustang named "The Galloping Ghost" lost control , and killed nine.

At a young age, Chris Whiting always had a thirst for learning about aviation, and it showed by the spouting of dates regarding the P-51 aircraft, in Reno, that took its catastrophic final flight.

"It has raced off and on since the late 40's there are very few aircraft if any that have raced that long," he said.

Whiting said it was not only the aircraft that will be missed, but the person inside.

"The pilot of that particular aircraft was very well know amongst air racing and aviation community," he said. "He had been flying mustangs a long period of time that itself is a tragedy and of course the crowds death."

He said with the recent events this is something that is not common.

"Very unusual circumstance because I don't know of any other instance in the last fifty-years in the U.S., where fans or the spectators were injured in any kind of way like this," he said.

Besides being unusual, Whiting said these recent events will be a major loss for the historic aspect of aviation, and said when it comes to aircraft shows, preparation is vital.

"For our air show, we always abide by FAA rules with 1500 hundred foot gap between the show line and the crowd line and no one except air craft crew are allowed passed that line during the show," he said.

Inside the hangar in Slaton a North American T-28, the same type of plane that crashed in West Virgina, and because of these tragedies Whiting said the future of aircraft shows is unknown.

"I don't know, I honestly don't know, he said. "I don't know what kind of impact this will have have to our air show, or air shows around the country after this."

http://www.myfoxlubbock.com

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