There have been three separate tragedies at overseas airshows this past week that have resulted in three deaths. Aerobatic performer Bryan Jensen, who was also a Boeing 747 captain with more than 23,000 flying hours to his name, died on August 20 when his biplane “The Beast”, a modified Pitts Model 12, struck the ground during a manoeuvre at the Kansas City Air Show in the US. On August 21, wing walker Todd Green died after falling while attempting to move from a Boeing-Stearman to a helicopter that was flying just above the biplane at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan. You may have seen the all-too-real amateur footage of the fall, in which Green appeared to lose his grip on the chopper and plummeted about 200 feet to the ground. He died on the way to the hospital. And lastly, and perhaps the most unexpectedly, the British Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows aerobatics team lost its No 4 on August 20 when the Hawk T1 crashed just after the team completed their aerobatic display at Bournemouth Air Festival in the UK. It was reported that the pilot, 33-yaer-old John Egging, issued a mayday call shortly before the aircraft crashed in a field. For more on the Red Arrow crash, click here. The RAF’s Hawk T1s have since been cleared to resume flying following preliminary investigations into the crash.
The Associated Press reports that Vadim Vassilenko, an inmate at Manhattan Detention Complex, hired a pilot to fly a banner over the New York City jail to get attention for the apparent injustices surrounding his incarceration. A Cessna C172 flew over the jail trailing a 100-foot banner that read: “V. Vassilenko jailed 5+ yrs – no trial – is this legal?”. The Ukraine national has been in the slammer since 2007 on charges of selling stolen credit card numbers as part of an international cybercrime ring. Regardless of whether Vassilenko is guilty or innocent, we think that this is a downright awesome use of General Aviation. Stick it to the man! This latest stunt comes after Missouri banker Lucy Nobbe hired an aircraft to fly above the Manhattan skyline earlier this month trailing a banner that read: “Thanks for the downgrade: You should all be fired”, in the wake of the US’ credit rating downgrade. Word is that Nobbe even received a discount from the company she hired the plane from after she told them about her intentions. Say what you will about the Yanks, but they sure know how to do emphatic.
In our 2011 Avalon Airshow review in our May/June print issue we briefly mentioned meeting Rolf Brand and the unorthodox, torpedo-looking aircraft he’s designed and building in his basement. Brand calls his blue beast the JB1M and he’s been working on it physically for four months after initially dreaming up the aircraft three decades ago. If you’ve seen the JB1M you likely wouldn’t have forgotten it – its curved carbon fibre prop is situated mid-way between the cockpit and the tail. Brand, whose efforts on the JB1M have been slowed due to Parkinson’s disease, expects the aircraft to weigh around 340kg, potentially reach a top speed of around 170kts, and cost around the same price as a top-end motorcycle. The Geelong Advertiser has published an interesting story on Brand and his JB1M, and you can read it in full by clicking here.
Now here’s a tragic reminder of the dangers of live props and the absolute necessity to exercise extreme caution when in the vicinity of them. A 40-year-old US woman was killed this week when she was hit by the prop of the Cessna 210 she had just exited at Humboldt Airport in Canada. According to police, the woman had exited the passenger side of the stationary aircraft, having just completed a flight, and was walking around the nose of the 210 when she walked into the still-turning propeller.
The RAAF’s AP-3C Orion detachment has chalked up a milestone 20,000 hours of operational missions in support of operations in the Middle East. On Tuesday August 15, one of the two Orion aircraft currently in the Middle East flew an overland mission in search of insurgents in southern Afghanistan when the milestone was recorded. To celebrate the milestone, an Australian and British fire-fighting truck provided a traditional water canon welcome to Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE where the two AP-3C Orion aircraft are stationed. The AP-3C aircraft are deployed from RAAF base Edinburgh, South Australia.
The RAF Red Arrows aerobatics team at full tilt. (RAF)
