Witnesses said a plane carrying a woman wing walker and her pilot was going ‘too low and too slow’ before it crashed in ball of flames at air airshow Saturday afternoon.
Jane Wicker, a mother of two sons, was atop the biplane at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton, Ohio, when it plunged to the ground. The pilot, Charlie Schwenker, also perished in the crash after steering the plane away horrified onlookers.
‘Had he drifted more, I don’t know what would have happened,’ said Ian Hoyt, an aviation photographer and licensed pilot from Findlay who was at the airshow with his girlfriend.
Hoyt said he was taking photos as the plane passed by and had just raised his camera to take another shot.
‘Then I realized they were too low and too slow. And before I knew it, they hit the ground,’ he said.
Hoyt said he couldn’t tell exactly what happened, but it appeared that the plane stalled and didn’t have enough air speed, he said. He credited the pilot for steering clear of spectators and potentially saving lives.
She looked very scared,’ he said. ‘Then the airplane crashed on the ground. After that, it was terrible, man … very terrible.’
Other witnesses reported hearing screams as the plane dived to the ground.
‘All of a sudden I heard screaming and looked up and there was a fire ball,’ Stan Thayer of Wilmington told the
Shawn Warwick was also at the event and watching the crash through binoculars.
‘I noticed it was upside down really close to the ground. She was sitting on the bottom of the plane,’ he said. ‘I saw it just go right into the ground and explode.’
Terrence Slaybaugh, the director of aviation for Dayton, confirmed their deaths around 2 p.m. The crash occurred at around 12:45 p.m.
A video posted on WHIO-TV shows the small plane turn upside-down as the performer sits on top of the wing. The announcer narrates as the plane glides through the sky and rolls over while Wicker perches.
‘Now she’s still on that far side. Keep an eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker, sitting on top of the world,’ the announcer said, right before the plane makes a quick turn and nosedive, erupting into flames as spectators screamed.
The show was canceled for the rest of the day, but organizers said events would resume Sunday and follow the previous schedule and normal operations. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash.
