'A wonderful pilot, not a risk taker'

[nadinbrzezinski]

RENO, Nev. — Friends of an air racer and movie stunt pilot whose plane crashed into the edge of the grandstand at a show said the 74-year-old was a skilled airman and member of a tight-knit flying community.

Pilot Jimmy Leeward of Ocala, Fla., died in the crash Friday after apparently losing control of the P-51 Mustang, which spiraled into a box seat area at the National Championship Air Races at about 4:30 p.m. Friday. Leeward and at least two others were killed; dozens were injured.

Family members were at the air show and saw the crash, said Reno Air Races President and CEO Mike Houghton.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44559319/ns/us_news/

[malaise]

1. Press conference on CNN now - NTSB

Apparently he flew there for 36 years.

[malaise]

2. There were seven fatalities on the ground including the pilot

plus the two at the hospital. Why did they hide those numbers last night?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Chaos

serious.

And listening to the emergency comms there were no blacks in their comms... so either they were not in the main channel... or they do not release until next of kin.

An MCI is controlled chaos...

[malaise]

6. Numbers differ from names so they would hold names until next of

kin were informed. How would they not know that seven were dead including the pilot.
Seems very strange to me and everyone is shocked at this sudden increase in the number of dead. Why would they not mention the six dead (plus the pilot) on the tarmac.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I saw the video

I could get really graphic, so I will leave this at this... propeller came off...

And I am not shocked, I expected it. Hell in the coming days two or three more dying in hospital would not surprise me.

[malaise]

12. We all expected the numbers to rise

I saw a horrific video last night as well. What I don't get is how six persons were killed on the tarmac and they didn't give those numbers last night. Were bodies burned as well? Are others still missing?

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Ok I will get graphic

since there was no explosion... no, not burns. They had to match body parts... to get the actual number of bodies... grizzly job. That actually can take time.

[malaise]

16. OK that makes sense

:hi:

[enlightenment]

10. Yesterday, the local (Las Vegas) news was reporting

thirteen dead.

I think it was very confused for a while. Nothing odd about it, really.

[malaise]

13. So how did twelve or thirteen become

two at the hospital plus the pilot, when we all knew that at least one man was cut in half.

sp.

[enlightenment]

18. I don't know - I wasn't there.

Based on images, it looks like much of the damage/injury occurred in a tented area. It's possible that it was initially simply too chaotic to get a good handle on who was alive and who was not.

As for where the deaths were reported, it may be that they waited for official pronouncement of death from the hospitals, even if it was very clear that the two victims who were announced first were clearly beyond help. Possibly because family members were there? (I remember my sister - a former paramedic - telling me that they were not allowed to call death in the field when she was working. I'm sure that has changed, but I think most of us still perceive emergency workers as the people who deliver injured people to hospitals, not the ones who pronounce death . . .)

I honestly don't know why the numbers changed so much, but I don't think it was some sort of deliberate attempt to downplay the severity of the incident.

[SlimJimmy]

8. As I understand it, they knew about the pilot and one person on the ground

yesterday, then confirmed the others as the investigation went forward.

[nomb]

4. Interesting description of a man who does stunts. These are essentially "risky" around crowds, yes?

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Well depends...

I used to do rappelling (for rescue)... I could have gotten killed... I could have gotten killed in fire entry too. There are risks, and there are risks.

[nomb]

7. I watched a line get cut on a jungle extraction once, 6 men dropped. This was not done for the crowd

Risks taken in line with ones purpose are quite different than risks taken to amuse the masses.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Yeah but there are pilots who take more risks than others

that circuit is, at least to me, weird... but I enjoy the air show locally.

[SlimJimmy]

14. Yes, there are some dangers that are inherent to operations, and then some that are greater risks in

and of themselves. Rappelling is a controlled danger, with safety equipment designed to limit the risk.

[Cerridwen]

17. Not really. I'm pretty good at parsing something down to the point I'm splitting

hairs while dancing on the head of a pin.

But there are just times when words are implied rather than stated.

Implied words in this case might include:

unnecessary risks
excessive risks
risks relative to the day to day risk of getting out of bed...or flying a plane in a race

edit: cleaned up some grammar so ugly even I noticed it.

[LWolf]

19. Skilled enough to ground the plane to reduce casualties. nt