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Article: Air show performers study accidents to learn lessons Crash shouldn't force new rules for aerobatic fliers, pilot says.
- Article from:
- Dayton Daily News
- Article date:
- August 5, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Dayton Daily News. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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DAYTON -- Walt Pierce has spent 40 years flying as an air show
performer, regularly doing solo flights and going aloft with
wingwalkers on the wings of his Stearman biplane, in a fashion that
gained popularity in the 1920s and '30s.
But the apparent risks and edginess in such acts obscure the
deliberate, careful preparation that veteran aerobatic pilots and
crews undertake before their flights, said Pierce, who brought his
Double Trouble wingwalkers' act to the Dayton Air Show a week ago.
"It's a very structured, disciplined job. It's not the devilmay-
care, 1920s thing that it may look like," he said.
Pierce said air show performers pay attention to the crash that
killed fellow stunt ...