Air Force Thunderbird Crashes At Idaho Air Show

Air Force Thunderbird Crashes At Idaho Air Show

(EXCERPT) By Editorial Staff and Associated Press

Most of video cameras were focused on the first four Thunderbirds at
the "Gunfighter Skies" air show at the Mountain Home Air Force Base.
But it was the last one that people here will never forget. An Air
Force F-16C plowing into the ground before 85-thousand stunned
spectators. The pilot maneuvered the jet into a dive and steered
toward the crowd. Then seemed to suffer engine failure when he pilot
tried to pull up, witnesses said.

Will Hannold saw the devastation firsthand, "I was horrified, I
couldn't believe it. I got sick to my stomach. I wasn't sure if he
survived." The crowd was transfixed by the fire ball. Hannold
estimates it was two hundred yards long.

The horror was quickly replaced by elation when the pilot appeared in
the distance. He had ejected from the F-16C moments before it crashed.
"There was a cheer that went up, so we knew he was okay," said
Hannold.

Kathy Staricco was rolling her camcorder and also caught the crash on
tape, "The next thing I know, I just seen the plane for a s...

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The American War Library
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