Are air races and air shows in American dangerous? Are they getting more dangerous? If so, why have them at all?
A CNN.com article from Saturday, July 28th, 2007 talked about the recent string of crashes that have been associated with air shows throughout the country. What is the history of air shows and air show fatalities?
Over the last ninety years, air shows and air races have grown in popularity, and accidents have always been a part of them. Since 1920, when the idea of an air show came to America from Europe, the American people have developed a love affair with them. The novelty, excitement and beauty of flight has been celebrated in air shows in America ever since.
From 1920 through 1928, the National Air Races were held in a variety of locations. In 1929, two Cleveland businessmen who were involved in manufacturing parts for airplanes brought the National Air Races to Cleveland, Ohio and out if its infancy.
The1929 air show and the celebration surrounding it were bigger and better than anything yet seen. The event lasted ten days. The opening celebration featured a parade larger than that year’s Rose Bowl parade. The total cost of the planes on “static” display on the ground was over $3,000,000.00.
The show itself was highlighted by precision flight demonstrations by the army, a flying demonstration by Lindbergh, the first all women’s cross country air race, plus pilots racing on a closed course around pylons. These and many other spectacles captured the imagination of the 100,000 spectators who visited the show that year. The show made a profit of about $90,000.00. But that year’s air show also claimed the lives of nine pilots.
There had been a few other deaths at the Cleveland Air Races in the years following. However, in 1949, tragedy struck the Cleveland Air Races when a pilot flying a closed course race in a plane with which he was not very went out of control and crashed into a house, killing the pilot and the two people in the house. This ended air racing in Cleveland but the air shows featuring demonstrations and stunts still continued.
People missed the thrill of air races. So, in 1963, the city of Reno, Nevada began holding air races. This year the event will be six days long and consist of one hundred and fifty racing planes.
Currently, according to the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS), air shows are the second most popular spectator sport in North America. Over 26 million people attend more than 400 air shows annually. During the past decade, air shows drew nearly twice the attendance figures of NFL football. The Oshkosh Air Show which takes place every year in Wisconsin, brings in alone over 600,000 spectators in a week’s time.
The current Cleveland National Air Show which takes place over three days has on the average of twenty to thirty planes flying every day as well as over thirty other planes on the ground on static display. Multiply that by four hundred air shows and we can see about how many planes are involved in a year’s worth of shows.
Despite the high level of skill and training it takes to be an air show pilot, fatalities do happen. It appears that there are no official statistics for the number of air show fatalities that take place each year. However, given the number of planes and the number of shows, the percentage is small. The Cleveland Air Show boasts that in over fifty years, there has not been one spectator death caused by an air craft.
So it is clear air shows flourish throughout the country to this day because of the beauty, splendor, power and excitement airplanes provide in the air and on the ground. They touch in us the desire to be free and so we are willing to endure the occasional pain and sadness for the incredible amount of pleasure we receive.
