Ohio Air Show Crash: Pilot And Wing Walker Killed [Video]

The Ohio air crash on Saturday in Daytona saw the pilot of the plane and the wing walker tragically killed. The plane, a 450 Stearman, crashed at around 12.45 p.m. at the Vectren air show, to the horror of thousands of onlookers.

The plane was performing a stunt as wing walker Jane Wicker, sat on the wing as it turned upside down, suddenly veering and crashing to the ground in a ball of flames. Other than the pilot and wing walker no one else was hurt in the crash but spectators were reportedly horrified.

A licensed pilot, Ian Hoyt was at the Ohio air show and said that he was taking pictures before the crash happened. He gave credit to the quick thinking and lighting fast responses of the pilot as at the last minute he steered the plane away from the crowd of onlookers, averting an even bigger tragedy.

He said, that the plane seemed to stall and was lacking in air speed, saying: “Had he drifted more, I don’t know what would have happened, then I realized they were too low and too slow. And before I knew it, they hit the ground.”

The narrator on the video speaks moments before the Ohio Air show crash took place: “Now she’s still on that far side. Keep an eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker, sitting on top of the world,” Moments later the plane crashes in a ball of fire on the ground near to the spectators.

A spectator at the Ohio air show, Shawn Warwick, who was watching the event through his binoculars, reported to the Dayton Daily News: “I noticed it was upside-down really close to the ground. She was sitting on the bottom of the plane, I saw it just go right into the ground and explode.”

Ironically, some time before the crash wing walker, Jane wicker wrote on her website: “What you see us do out there is after an enormous amount of practice and fine tuning, not to mention the airplane goes through microscopic care. It is a managed risk and that is what keeps us alive,” Unfortunately this wasn’t the case in the tragic events that took place at the Ohio air show crash on Saturday.

The air show was obviously cancelled and will resume Sunday according to the original program. A full investigation of the events leading up to the fatal crash will be carried out by The National Transportation Safety Board in due course.

Have you ever been a spectator at an air show? Do you think authorities have enough safety measures in place, generally, at events like this or should more be done to ensure fatal crashes such as these don’t happen? Sound off in the comments below.

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