List of Air Show Accidents and Incidents - 1997

1997

• October 12 – (Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England) – The last airworthy World War II German Messerschmitt Bf 109 crashed while being flown by Air Chief Marshal Sir John Allison, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Strike Command. He was unhurt despite the plane coming to rest upside down. The plane, known to be difficult to land due to poor visibility from the cockpit and its narrow-track landing gear, had overshot the runway while landing.
• September 20 - Sixth Annual Confederate Air Force Airshow (San Marcos, Texas) An an Aerotek Pitts S-2A aerobatic biplane piloted by James Kincaid crashed at the bottom of a snap roll and dive maneuver in front of a crowd of approximately 15,000. The pilot died from his injuries later that day. Witnesses report that that the plane did not have sufficient airspeed at the start of the sequence to keep from crashing at the bottom of the dive.
• September 14 – Chesapeake Air Show (Middle River, Maryland) – A Lockheed F-117, 81–793, of the 7th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Wing, at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, lost its port wing at 1500 hrs. during a pass over Martin State Airport, and crashed into a residential area of Bowley's Quarters, Maryland damaging several homes. Four people on the ground received minor injuries and the pilot, Maj. Bryan "B.K." Knight, 36, escaped with minor injuries after ejecting from the aircraft. A month-long Air Force investigation found that four of 39 fasteners for the wing's structural support assembly were apparently left off when the wings were removed and reinstalled in January 1996, according to a report released on 12 December 1997.
• July 26 – Ostend Airshow (Ostend, Belgium) – Captain Omar Hani Bilal of the Jordanian Air Force display team, the Royal Jordanian Falcons, was killed when he lost control of his Walter Extra EA300s. His plane crashed at the end of the runway and burst into flames near a Red Cross tent and spectator stands. On the ground, eight were killed and forty injured.
• June 22 – Wings Over Long Island Airshow – (Westhampton, New York) – Two planes racing collided over Francis S. Gabreski Airport in front of 15,000 spectators. Pilot Dick Goodlett died when his aircraft crashed and burst into flames. The second plane crash-landed, critically injuring pilot Chris Kalishek.
• June 1 – Air Show Colorado 1997 (Broomfield, Colorado) – Ret. Colonel "Smiling Jack" Jack M. Rosamond was killed when he lost control of his restored F-86 Sabre Jet during an acrobatic loop at the (then known as) Jefferson County Airport. Unseasonably high temperatures combined with the natural high elevation (5,673 ft) of the airport was thought to make the air less dense than expected, leading to poor effectiveness of flight control surfaces. Nobody else was injured in the accident.Template:Www.planecrashmap.com/plane/co/N86EX