Unlimited Class Spared Tragedy That Has Hit Others in Air Shows

RENO — There has been several fatalities at air shows over the past year.

The worst was at Ramstein Air Force Base in West Germany Aug. 28, 1988, when three Italian stunt planes collided in midair and one fell into the crowd, killing 70 people.

The most recent was during last week’s National Air Races here when Errol Roberson, 49, of Warrenton, Ore., flew his small, lightweight Formula One racer into a thermal whirlwind and it disintegrated. Two weeks earlier, two Tutor jets of the Canadian military aerobatic Snowbird team touched wings and one plunged into Lake Ontario, killing the pilot.

But in 26 years of the Reno event, the powerful, vintage World War II Unlimiteds have never had a fatality. The Reno show has had nine deaths.

“Maybe it’s because we have only the one race a year,” said Lyle Shelton of Granada Hills, who has won the event the last two years and four times overall, flying the same F8F Bearcat. “It’s hairy, I’ll tell you. Every time I go out I know I could bust my bottom. We’re running those engines at the hairline edge of destruction.”

The Federal Aviation Administration certifies air-show pilots and planes and monitors the conditions. A basic rule is that planes aren’t to fly over or toward the crowd.

The pilots must take flight checks every two years. Last week, after passing his, Formula One Pilot Don Beck of Tahoe Vista, Calif., celebrated by performing a loop. He was immediately disqualified for reckless flying.

Later, during the races Friday, Unlimited pilots Shelton and Bill Destefani of Bakersfield found themselves landing simultaneously on the same runway--from opposite directions. The tower ordered Destefani to abort at the last moment.

“They’re not (FAA) authorized tower people,” Destefani said. “(Officials said) those tower guys are just there to ‘advise’ us. Well, they advised us wrong. They got fouled up, so (Shelton) got fouled up.”

Later, Destefani said, “What I heard from the tower was basically, ‘Pick whatever runway you want.’ ”