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RENO, Nev. — As thousands watched in horror, a World War II-era fighter plane competing in a Nevada air show race suddenly pitched upward, rolled and did a nose-dive toward the crowded grandstand.
At least three people were killed and more than 50 injured. It was feared the death toll could rise.
The plane, flown by a 74-year-old veteran Hollywood stunt pilot, slammed into the concrete in a section of VIP box seats and blew to pieces in front the pilot's family and a tight-knit group of friends who attend the annual event in Reno.
"It absolutely disintegrated," said Tim O'Brien of Grass Valley Calif., who attends the races every year. "I've never seen anything like that before."
The crash, which happened just before 4:30 p.m. during the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport, left a horrific scene strewn with smoking debris.
Bloodied bodies were spread across the area as people tended to the victims and ambulances rushed to the scene. Video of the aftermath showed a man with his leg severed at the knee.
Mike Draper, a spokesman for the Reno National Championship Air Races, described the scene as "a mass-casualty situation."
Authorities said it appeared that a mechanical failure with the P-51 Mustang — a class of fighter plane that can fly in excess of 500 mph — was to blame. The pilot, Jimmy Leeward, was among those killed.
'Big explosion'
O'Brien, who is chairman of an air show in his hometown in California, was photographing Friday's races when the crash occurred.
He said the Mustang was racing six other planes, and was in the process of moving from third place into second, when it pitched violently upward, rolled and then headed straight down.
From the photos he took, O'Brien said it looked like a piece of the plane's tail called a "trim tab" had fallen off. He believes that's what caused the plane's sudden climb.
When the aircraft hit the ground, there was a "big explosion but no fire," O'Brien said.
"The propeller (was) spinning very fast, and there was a lot of mass coming down all at once," he said. It was a "very violent impact."
Afterward, a number of people were standing around, and "all we could do was hug each other," he said.
Some onlookers said Leeward had done what he could to avoid people on the ground.
"If he wouldn't have pulled up, he would have taken out the entire bleacher section," said Tim Linville, 48, of Reno, who watched the race with his two daughters.
"The way I see it, if he did do something about this, he saved hundreds if not thousands of lives because he was able to veer that plane back toward the tarmac," said Johnny Norman, who was at the show.
Leeward's family expressed their sorrow in a message posted on Facebook.
"Dear friends, we are deeply saddened by the tragedy at the air race today. Please join us in praying at this time for all the families affected," they said.
'Unbelievable gore'
Witness Maureen Higgins of Alabama said the pilot was on his third lap when he lost control of the plane. She told the Gazette-Journal she was sitting about 30 yards away from the crash and the man in front of her was struck in the head by a piece of debris.
"I saw body parts and gore like you wouldn't believe it. I'm talking an arm, a leg," Higgins told the newspaper. "The alive people were missing body parts. I am not kidding you. It was gore. Unbelievable gore."
Video apparently taken from the stands and posted on YouTube showed a plane crashing nose-down at the show after several other planes raced by in the air.
Spectators could be heard gasping: "Oh my God." A photograph captured the doomed plane, nose down just before impact.
Local TV stations aired videotape of the scene that showed numerous people being treated at the scene or being carried on stretchers to ambulances.
Debris from the crash was strewn through a seating area in front of the grandstands.
“It’s just like a massacre. It’s like a bomb went off,” said Dr. Gerald Lent of Reno, who witnessed the crash, told the Gazette-Journal. “There are people lying all over the runway.”
He added: "One guy was cut in half. There's blood everywhere. There’s arms and legs."
Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, told The Associated Press that emergency crews took a total of 56 injury victims to three hospitals.
She said they also observed a number of people being transported by private vehicle, which they are not including in their count.
15 critically hurt
Kruse said of the total 56, at the time of transport, 15 were considered in critical condition, 13 were in serious condition with potentially life-threatening injuries and 28 had non-serious or non-life threatening injuries.
"This is a very large incident, probably one of the largest this community has seen in decades," Kruse told The AP. "The community is pulling together to try to deal with the cope of it. The hospitals have certainly geared up and staffed up to deal with it."
The National Championship Air Races have been deadly before. Two pilots died at the event in 1994. And organizers softened two of the curves pilots negotiate after two more pilots crashed into nearby neighborhoods in 1998 and 1999.
In 2007 and 2008, four pilots were killed at the races, prompting local school officials to consider barring student field trips to the event.
Planes at the yearly event fly wingtip-to-wingtip as low as 50 feet off the sagebrush at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph. Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft.
Mike Houghton, president and CEO of Reno Air Races, said at a news conference hours after the crash that there appeared to be a "problem with the aircraft that caused it to go out of control." He did not elaborate.
He said the rest of the races have been canceled as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates.
The NTSB issued a statement on YouTube, expressing its condolences to the victims and their relatives and saying it would send a team of investigators Saturday morning from Washington D.C. to Reno.
Gov. Brian Sandoval noted at a news conference that area hospitals were in need of blood in the wake of the crash, and he encouraged people to donate.
"Northern Nevadans grieve again this evening with the news of casualties and injuries at the Reno Championship Air Races," he said, according to NBC News. "My family and I extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families, and I know every member of the Nevada family is thinking tonight of those we have lost and those we cherish."
Leeward, of Ocala, Fla., was a veteran airman and movie stunt pilot who named his P-51 Mustang fighter plane the "Galloping Ghost," according to Houghton. Officials earlier said Leeward was 80.
Leeward, the owner of the Leeward Air Ranch Racing Team, was a well-known racing pilot. According to the Internet Movie Database, Leeward appeared in a number of movies as a stunt pilot, including "Amelia" in 2009, "The Tuskegee Airmen" in 1995 and "Smokey and the Bandit Part 3" in 1983.
'Speed, speed and more speed'
In an interview with the Ocala Star-Banner, of Florida, last year, he described how he has flown 250 types of planes and has a particular fondness for the P-51, which came into the war relatively late and was used as a long-range bomber escort over Europe. Among the famous pilots of the hot new fighter was WWII double ace Chuck Yeager.
"They're more fun. More speed, more challenge. Speed, speed and more speed," Leeward said.
Leeward talked about racing strategy in an interview Thursday with LiveAirShow TV while standing in front of his plane.
"Right now I think we've calculated out, we're as fast as anybody in the field, or maybe even a little faster," he said.
"But uh, to start with, we didn't really want to show our hand until about Saturday or Sunday. We've been playing poker since last Monday. And uh so, it's ready, we're ready to show a couple more cards, so we'll see on Friday what happens, and on Saturday we'll probably go ahead and play our third ace, and on Sunday we'll do our fourth ace," he added.
A 2010 newspaper article said that Leeward had made major modifications to his plane for racing, including shaving five feet off of each wing and reducing the canopy’s size.
His website said the plane's engine produced 3,800 horsepower and the aircraft was rated to 550 mph. The article said that for races, Leeward was required to wear a helmet, fire protection suit, oxygen mask and parachute.
Good friend
Houghton described Leeward as a good friend.
"Everybody knows him. It's a tight-knit family. He's been here for a long, long time," Houghton said.
He also said Leeward was a "very qualified, very experienced pilot" who was in good medical condition. He suggested Leeward would have made every effort to avoid casualties on the ground if he knew he was going to crash.
"If it was in Jimmy's power, he would have done everything he possibly could," Houghton said.
The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people to Reno every September to watch various military and civilian planes race.
The FAA and air race organizers spend months preparing for air races as they develop a plan involving pilot qualification, training and testing along with a layout for the course. The FAA inspects pilots' practice runs and brief pilots on the route maneuvers and emergency procedures.
Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Mark Amodei and other officials issued statements Friday saying they were shocked and saddened by the crash.
"My thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives and with those who were wounded in this horrific tragedy," Reid said. "I am so grateful to our first responders for their swift action and will continue to monitor this situation as it develops."
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