Crash Ostend Airshow (Belgium)
Bedutje
Yesterday, 26 july 1997, during the yearly airshow at Ostend Airport
(Belgium), about 15:50 local time a Royal Jordanian Falcon Xtra 300
crashed just beside the public. Unfortunately parts of the plane and
the burning fuel reached the public. 9 persons died, 37 were wounded.
10 of them are still in a critical condition. My first impression was
the manoeuvre was performed at a critical flight level, but after
seeing the images on tv it seems like the plane dropped vertically for
several meters on the downward movement. Did the wind drop at that
exact moment? Was there an engine failure? Who can tell?
Is there somebody who has more info? Did the Falcons had accidents in
the past?
Bedutje from Belgium.
Roland
What happened from my point of view:
During the air show there was special attention for aerobatics this
year. Four pilots were competing for the 'Mission Impossible' trophy.
The Royal Falcon solo was the last one of those four to fly. After the
upgraded Su-27's had landed and the Turkish Stars had made their
display, it started to rain very lightly.
At that time the Falcon took off. Just before the crash he was doing
some spins at a very low altitude, nearly directly above the crowd-line.
Then the were some sudden strong gusts (umbrellas were broken). Due to
the gusts he was pushed even behind the crowd and he lost his speed. He
tried to regain airspeed by diving completely vertical towards the
crowd, but he couldn't pull up in time.
I thought he slided directly into the crowd after hitting some tents and
ambulances, although Belgian television contradicted that. Of course the
crowd started to scream and tried to get away, but I didn't because even
though I felt the heat of the fire, I realized I wasn't in danger.
At that time I saw several burning bodies with missing parts, even the
pilot lying halfway out of the burning wreckage with his arms stretched
forward. I shot some pictures, but not of the people lying there.
When the announcer said there had been an accident, hugh masses who only
saw smoke started to come towards the scene. At that time me and my
friends decided to leave. On our way back, we heard a commercial on the
radio for the 'heavenly sensation' one could have the next day at the
show...
Regards,
Orio.
P.s. appropriate pictures will probably appear at EJECT! - Aviation
Homepage http://www.kolibri.lr.tudelft.nl/eject/
Martin Hasselknippe
Bedutje wrote:
I saw the Falcons at the airshow in Kristiansand in Norway a few weeks
ago. They were spectacular, and especially the solo show was very good.
I have heard that the guy who was supposed to do the solo show (the one
I saw in Kristiansand) had to return home to attend his pregnant wife,
so
a stand-in did the solo show.
I also heard that they had placed audience on both sides of the display
line and that the plane crashed in a place it would normally be no
people,
but in this case near the VIP audience.
Paul Sengupta
Martin Hasselknippe wrote:
>
> Bedutje wrote:
>
> > Yesterday, 26 july 1997, during the yearly airshow at Ostend Airport
> > (Belgium), about 15:50 local time a Royal Jordanian Falcon Xtra 300
> > crashed just beside the public. Unfortunately parts of the plane and
> > the burning fuel reached the public. 9 persons died, 37 were wounded.
> > 10 of them are still in a critical condition.
>
> ago. They were spectacular, and especially the solo show was very good.
> I have heard that the guy who was supposed to do the solo show (the one
> I saw in Kristiansand) had to return home to attend his pregnant wife,
> so
> a stand-in did the solo show.
The regular soloist if I remember correctly is Omar Bilau (Bilow? Pass)
and at the last show I went to here in the UK with him flying they said
something about his wife expecting a baby. I had assumed it had been
him flying in Belgium but I guess from this thread that it wasn't.
I specifically look out for his show appearing at air
shows since he's arguably the best aerobatic pilot in the world.
He's consistently voted "best display in show"...and that's including
all the fast jets.
Does anyone know who the pilot was on this occasion?
--
Paul
Martin Hasselknippe
Paul Sengupta wrote:
I know that CNN reports the pilots name to be Capt. Omar Hani Bilal
(http://cnn.com/WORLD/9707/26/belgium.aircrash/),
but according to my friend working with Scandinavian Historic Flight,
the
pilot was NOT Omar, but a stand-in.