Pilots and organizers coming to Colorado Springs this weekend for the In Their Honor Air Show are hoping the reputation of such events is not defined by recent accidents.
Last Friday, a pilot was killed when he crashed at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nev. Ten spectators also died as a result of the accident.
The next day, pilot John Mangan died at an air show in West Virginia.
But the two events could not be more different, said organizers and pilots.
“Air shows are like finely calibrated figure-skating routines,” said John O’Donnell, chairman for In Their Honor Air Show. “Air races — it’s NASCAR in the sky.”
Since March, two other air-show pilots have died, one in Florida and one in Missouri. Two wing walkers also died this year after their stunts went awry, said John Cudahy, president of the International Council of Air Shows.
“It’s been a bad year for the air-show industry,” Cudahy said. It also has been an unusual one. From 2008 to 2010, there were no fatal accidents at air shows, he said.
“Having no accidents in those years was a little bit of an anomaly,” Cudahy said. “But having three (pilot) fatalities this year is also an anomaly.”
In the past 60 years, no spectator has been killed at an air show. This is due to tight regulations put in place after a deadly accident in 1951 in Flagler, Cudahy said.
“Aerobatic energy is not directed at the crowd,” said George Cline, the air boss for this weekend’s show.
Cline orchestrates the pilots’ routines to make them visually stimulating and safe. Each show is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration long before takeoff.
Air-show planes are not allowed to pass over the crowd unless they are at altitude, he said. Depending on the size of their craft, pilots must be 500 to 1,500 feet away from the audience, Cline said.
In his 27 years as an air boss, Cline said he has never seen an accident at a show.
“We don’t just jump in and do it,” he said.
If pilots are concerned, Cline tells them not to fly. He also tells pilots, “If a trick or maneuver doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. No one will ever know the difference.”
O’Donnell said ticket sales for the air show, which will take place at Fort Carson’s Butts Army Airfield, are right on track.
He said he hasn’t had calls from patrons worried about their safety.
Colorado Springs-based air- show pilot Matt Tanner said the shrinking community of pilots still mourns the loss of their friends and colleagues.
Tanner will fly in this weekend’s show, and his family will be in attendance.
He said he has no doubt about their safety.
“I hope people don’t stay away from the show,” he said.
Caitlin Gibbons: 303-954-1638 or cgibbons@denverpost.com
