UPDATE: 10:06 PM CST: A third report is stating that 3 dead and 56 injured rather than the 75 injured just a short time ago.
UPDATE: 9:23 PM CST: In the first news report that was read from KWCH, it was announced 12 died. Now their report has been amended to multiple deaths.
Yahoo! News has the counts listed as three deaths and 75 injured.
Original Article Below
With these four air show plane crashes happening within a four month time span, has this sport become to dangerous for the pilots? More than likely not since these aren’t the first fatalities at air shows.
Kansas Air Show Plane Crash June 2011
In Junction City, Kansas, air show plane crashed in June, 2011. During this air show, the pilot and his passenger managed to escape without injury when their plane was flying too low. The plane had lost power and hit a tree. After hit the tree, the plane came to rest in a home nearby and had minor damage.
Missouri, Michigan, and England Air Show Crashes and Deaths In August 2011
The second air show plane crash happened in Kansas City, Missouri. The fatal crash in Missouri happened August 21, 2011, when the pilot was unable to pull up out of a nose dive. The pilot of the plane was the only death in this air show while spectators watch in horror.
The saddest thing is air show stuntman died in Michigan two days before the plane crash in Kansas City. The stuntman fell to his death when he had missed his grab at the landing skids on a hovering helicopter during his stunt for the air show. His was the first of three deaths on the August weekend as the Kansas City death. The third was another plane that had crashed in England during an air show. In this case, it was an British Air Force Aerobatic Team pilot that had crashed.
Even having watched the Blue Angels perform at McConnell Air Force Base several times over the years, the maneuvers they do are mesmerizing. This type of high flying stunts is what keeps fans coming back to these types of air shows like the British Air Force put on for their viewers.
Reno, Nevada, Air Show Crash in September 2011
On September 16, 2011, not even 30 days after the second crash at an air show, the third plane crashed near a grandstand in Reno, Nevada. This time the casualties were much high; 12 dead at last report and 75 injured.
Other Air Show Plane Crashes and Deaths
While searching for other air show crashes and deaths, Wikipedia.com has a list of all accidents and incidents since the beginning of this sport. The first occurred in 1910 in the United Kingdom. The accident that happened today, September 16, 2011, is the latest incident.
The 20s. Four separate plane crashes at air shows.
The 30s. There was another four incidents.
The 40s. 12 accidents occurred during an air show. Three accidents had happen for each of the following years: 1946, 1947, and 1949.
The 50s. 14 incidents and accidents happened at an air show. During the years of 1952, 1953, 1956, and 1957, 10 of these occurrences happened.
The 60s. Nine air shows had some kind of crash with a death or multiple deaths.
The 70s. This decade had 15 different incidents.
The 80s. 14 different air shows around the world had deaths. In June 1988, an air show in France had the highest amount of deaths with a total of 136 people on board during a low speed pass.
The 90s. This decade at this point had the most airplane incidents during an air show. There were 34 accidents and incidents reported for the century.
The 00s. 41 airs how accidents happened in the first decade of the 21st century.
The 10s. For the first two years of this decade, there have been 14 air show accidents and incidents around the world.