[citricsquid]

That's is what affects me most about these things. When I see videos of people being murdered (beheadings, the hammer video) it's shocking but there's no connection because I at least never think "I could be murdered next! Someone wants to hurt me!" but with this it's people just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's scary how fragile human life is and this is a reminder even if you're the most wonderful purpose and there's no malicious intent involved you're still at risk.

[spokengent]

FWIW, I'm pretty sure going to an air show/air race is a fairly risky decision in the grand scale of things.

[prof_hobart]

I wouldn't think so. How many people have ever died at airshows compared to how many go to them?

It may look dangerous, but (except for very rare exceptions) it's just a fun day out.

[chaz]

Airshows can be deadly to pilots, but up until this tragedy, safe for spectators: "John Cudahy, the president of the International Council of Air Shows, said Friday that no spectators have died at any air show in the country since 1952."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-air-sho...

[aw3c2]

There are airshows in other countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramstein_airshow_disaster (might even count as US ground as it was a US military base).

[tlrobinson]

Also Sknyliv: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sknyliv_airshow_disaster

[Fluxx]

The last 2 years I went to Osh Kosh (2006 and 2008) there were two fatalities - one when a visiting pilot crashed on his way in (a lot of people fly in and camp at the air show) and another when two reno air race plans doing a race demo collided on the way in for landing. The sad part about the later crash is that it was a father and son who collided and the son was the one who died.

[foxit]

The president of the International Council of Air Shows made a PR-effective statement. However, looking into the history of airshows makes them look rather dangerous. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airshow_accidents)

[dhughes]

1952? No way, I remember one where a jet hit the runway and a fireball engulfed the crowd that occurred probably in the late 1980s.

I think after that crash aircraft were banned from flying towards or over spectators the planes had to fly parallel or away from the crowd.

[ktsmith]

We can look at the Reno air races as an example. It's been going on for 49 years and prior to today there were 19 deaths, none involving spectators. I've been going to the races for a lot of years though we decided not to this year, the course isn't that close to the spectators and much of it happens over open desert.

[kennystone]

Yes and we can also use common sense to know an 80 year old dude flying a highly modified racing plane right above spectators is spectacularly stupid.

[0x12]

That may be true by itself but there are some eyewitness reports that actually conclude that the pilot acted in ways that greatly reduced the number of casualties. Don't be too quick to judge, it could have simply been a mechanical failure. At speeds and altitudes like that it does not take much.

[ktsmith]

You could also look at his FAA records and see that his being 74 likely had nothing to do with it:

http://www.av8rdan.com/2011/09/before-assuming-age-was-the-c...

edit: The course doesn't fly right over spectators, the plane went off course, possibly as part of what is suspected to be mechanical failure.

[webXL]

That was my first thought. I believe he was only 74 though. Probably approaching the realm of spectacularly stupid. They said his medical records were all checked out, but I bet there's a higher level of scrutiny for older pilots going forward.

[ktsmith]

Here's some information about the medical class he passed in March of this year: http://flightphysical.com/part67/Class2/67subc.htm

[cookiecaper]

There's a comment further down this thread that shows four air show related fatalities in the past month.

I would think that going somewhere where you know you will be in close proximity to aircraft performing advanced stunts is one of the riskier places most people decide to go, even if the actual fatality rate is pretty low.

[prof_hobart]

The other ones were deaths of participants rather than spectators though.

If there's very rarely any fatalities, or even injuries, amongst the millions of people who go to airshows every year (the attendance at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is around 800,000 every year for example, and Paris Airshow is around 350,000 people, plus the hundreds if not thousands of airshows like this one in Reno), how is it particularly risky?

[dlss]

So quite safe relative to the risk of driving to the airshow?