Larry and I were at Oshkosh yesterday when just as the airshow started with the first event, RENO RACERS. Just as the mock race was finished and the planes were landing, one mustang, on the runway, was overtaken by another mustang landing. See the story below, it was a mess. This incident was at 3:00 PM and we had a 7:00 PM IFR (number 7 in the line) slot for departure but the airport was still closed at 7:00 PM. What to do? We were ramped at Basler Air Service along with a dozen CJ's, King Air's, Beech Baron's, 421's and on and on. Waiting, waiting, talking, listening to ATIS. The whole issue was the accident was on runway 36 (south) and we would be departing 27 (north) but because of the accident all the emergency support was 2 miles away at the scene of the accident. So they would not allow any departures on the north runway without having some kind of emergency support for the runway. Finally we had decided that we were spending the night in N37KC when the King Air fired up his engines next to us. We hurried to the plane and turned on the radio and sure enough they had just opened the airport. It was a mad, crazy dash for all those planes to taxi to the departure point. They were going to honor all IFR slots and we were 7 on the list but it was suggested by ATC that we go out VFR because the airport would be closing in 30 minutes. We quickly changed our sign from IFR to VFR and barley made the line of jets, turbines and kits to the runway. It was amazing how quickly they put planes in the air. Well that was just about enough excitement for one day at Airventure. It was an adventure. The best part was sleeping in my own bed last night and not in a Skymaster on the ramp.
Although, I was with the best of company. Thanks for the trip Larry!
OSHKOSH, Wis. - Two single-engine war planes at an experimental airshow collided while landing Friday, killing one of the pilots and injuring the other, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the collision with the two P-51 Mustangs happened at 3:17 p.m. after the planes finished a performance at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture show.
P-51 Mustangs are single-seat fighters that were used in World War II.
FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board investigators were on the scene on Friday.
NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said one pilot died and the other had minor injuries when the planes clipped wings on landing. He said an NTSB investigator on the scene scheduled a news briefing at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Wittman Regional Airport terminal.