Air show crash kills 3, injures dozens

RENO, Nev. -- A vintage World War II-era fighter plane plunged into the grandstands Friday during a popular annual air show, killing at least three people, including the pilot, injuring more than 50 spectators and creating a horrific scene strewn with body parts and smoking debris.

The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known. The plane, flown by a renowned 74-year-old air racer and movie stunt pilot, spiraled suddenly out of control and appeared to disintegrate upon impact. Bloodied bodies were spread across the area as people tended to the victims and ambulances rushed to the scene.

Maureen Higgins of Alabama, who has been coming to the show for 16 years, said the pilot was on his third lap when he lost control.

She was sitting about 30 yards away from the crash and watched in horror as the man in front of her started bleeding after a piece of debris hit him in the head.

"I saw body parts and gore like you wouldn't believe it. I'm talking an arm, a leg," Higgins said "The alive people were missing body parts. I am not kidding you. It was gore. Unbelievable gore."

The pilot was Jimmy Leeward of Ocala, Fla., a veteran airman and stunt pilot who named his P-51 Mustang fighter plane the "Galloping Ghost," according to Mike Houghton, president and CEO of Reno Air Races.

Renown Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Carter confirmed that two others died, but did not provide their identities.

Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, told The Associated Press that emergency crews took a total of 56 injury victims to three hospitals. She said they also saw several people being taken by private vehicles, which they are not including in their count.

Kruse said of the total 56, at the time of transport, 15 were considered in critical condition, 13 were serious condition with potentially life-threatening injuries and 28 were nonserious or nonlife threatening.

The P-51 Mustang crashed into a box-seat area in front of the grandstand about 4:30 p.m., race spokesman Mike Draper said. Houghton said Leeward appeared to have "lost control of the aircraft," though he had no more details.

He said the rest of the races have been canceled as the NTSB investigates.

KRNV-TV weatherman Jeff Martinez, who was just outside the air race grounds at the time, said the plane veered to the right and then "it just augered straight into the ground. You saw pieces and parts going everywhere."

"Everyone is in disbelief." Tanya Breining, of Hayward, Calif., told KTVU-TV in San Francisco: "It was absolute carnage . . . It looked like more than a bomb exploded."

Leeward, the owner of the Leeward Air Ranch Racing Team, was a well-known racing pilot. His website says he has flown more than 120 races and served as a stunt pilot for numerous movies, including "Amelia" and "Cloud Dancer."

The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people to Reno every year in September to watch various military and civilian planes race.

They also have attracted scrutiny in the past over safety concerns, including four pilots killed in 2007 and 2008. It was such a concern that local school officials once considered whether they should not allow student field trips at the event.