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At least three and possibly 12 people were killed and at least 75 injured, dozens seriously, when a P-51 Mustang – a World War II era fighter plane — crashed into the airfield and box seats near the grandstands at the Reno National Championship Air Races in just outside Reno, Nevada, around 4:15 PM local time. The pilot, an 80-year old man, Jimmy Leeward from Ocala, Florida, reportedly was killed. This is the worst accident of its kind in the history of the air show, which has seen 19 deaths in 48 years.
Local KTVN has live streaming video here, and CBS News is carrying it here.
Via the New York Post:
Mike Draper, a spokesman for the Reno National Championship Air Races, told the Reno Gazette-Journal he could not provide specific numbers of casualties, other than to say it was a “mass casualty event.”
A medical official said more than 75 people had been injured — 25 critically — in the crash, but did not provide details about any fatalities. KOLO-TV reported that 12 people had been killed.
Earlier, Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez told the Gazette-Journal there were 30 serious and 30 intermediate injuries initially reported, adding that multiple ambulances had been dispatched to the scene.
Video footage shows the plane dramatically dropping out of the sky nose first before smashing into the ground and scattering wreckage and debris over a wide area.
Witnesses likened the scene after the crash to a war zone. “It’s just like a massacre. It’s like a bomb went off,” witness Gerald Lent told the Gazette-Journal.
“There are people lying all over the runway. There’s blood everywhere.”
CNN adds,
The P-51 plane, called the “Galloping Ghost,” was taking part in a qualifying round in the “unlimited class” division of the air race when it went down around 4:15 p.m. PT Friday, Draper said. The final rounds had been slated for the weekend.
The aircraft was about a lap into the race when the pilot sent out a “Mayday signal” and pulled “out of the lap” before crashing into a box area that is in front of a grandstand at the “very large race field,” located about 15 miles north of Reno, Draper said.
“It was clear that (the plane) was pulling up and was in distress,” he said.
He added that authorities do not yet know why the aircraft went down.
Besides the Federal Aviation Administration personnel already there to assist the National Transportation Safety Board in any investigation, the show’s spokesman said that National Guard members — who were on-site practicing before the incident — are helping emergency personnel to clear the area.
The Reno-Gazette-Journal reports that the pilot was a “stunt pilot for the movies.”
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2011/09/16/ac-nv-air-show-plane-crash-1.cnn