Sunday, June 17, 2012

Rexburg Airshow Gone Bad


Friday night I was out working in the yard. I stopped frequently to watch the planes overhead doing their stunts for a private group. The next day they were having the annual air show in Rexburg. Jeff was doing a delivery so I kept working. When he came home we decided to ride out to the airport and watch the planes. It was a beautiful evening. When we got out on the taxi way we went over to the ambulance crew to watch with them as Jeff is the Paramedic/Fire Department Medical Director. It was a perfect spot to watch from. We were amazed at the death defying stunts they were doing. Then this little red stunt plane came rolling his plane down from the sky. He seemed to be coming too close to the ground and I thought he looked like he was out of control. Guess he was because suddenly he crashed into the ground on the golf course. We all were stunned. Jeff said to the paramedics "we better get out there". We ran and climbed over the chain link fence which was a stunt in itself. You should see my bruises. 
Here are pictures of the plane coming down. 
Parts of the airplane were scattered a long distance. I picked one up and it was so light, it was like a cardboard or fabric. 
The pilot was out of the plane when we got to him. He said he was OK but his ankle hurt. He insisted on not getting in the ambulance. He finally did to be checked out. He again said he would got to the ER but not in the ambulance so Jeff and I led his car up to the Hospital. He was a a lucky guy. It was pretty traumatic to watch a plane crash. Watching the crash it looked like he should have had much worse injuries if not killed. 

I had my baggy yard work clothes on when we went for our ride. I think that you should not do that if you are headed out in  public. You never know what cameras will be around.