Warbird Information Exchange

Following the Scott Manning crash during a practice session in Ottawa, Canada on June 16 and the collision of airplanes in Peru, IL four hours before an air show was scheduled to begin, ABC News decided to do a story on air shows. The question that the feature focused on was, "How Safe Are Air Shows?" The piece opens with Good Morning America's (GMA) anchor saying that "18 million people will make their ways to air shows this year to be thrilled by top-gun pilots pushing their aircraft to their acrobatic limits." ABC's Dan Harris led the story by saying, "Air Shows have become nearly as popular as Major League Baseball - they are now a right-of-summer, a National pastime." The footage shows the wreckage at Peru, IL but Harris clarifies that "Sunday's accident did not involve actual performance pilots." He continues that, "accidents are statistically rare however, about four a year - 1/3 the number fifteen years ago." ABC aviation consultant John Nance lends positive credibility by saying that, "there is a very small incidence when you consider the number of air shows and the number of participants - it has been getting better progressively." While the segment showed the horrible crash in Ramstein, Germany and a 2004 crash in California, Harris clarified that, "the FAA has been overseeing U.S. air shows for just over 50 years now and according to them, not a single spectator has died here during that time period. This can be traced to stricter safety rules." The conclusion for viewers of the feature was, "there is a risk. . . but it is really rare."