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05-04-2014, 07:31 PM
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| My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:9991 Ferengi Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 14 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 0 Post(s)
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Plane Crash at Travis AFB During an Airshow
In a tragic incident at the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield during an air show on Sunday afternoon, a pilot lost his life. The pilot has been identified as a 77-year-old man from Half Moon Bay, Mr. Eddie Andreini, according to Col. David Mott of Travis Air Force Base. During a news conference held at the military base, Col. Mott expressed condolences, stating, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Mr. Eddie Andreini." He also mentioned that Mr. Andreini had been an aviator since the age of 16 and had been performing in air shows for the past 25 years. The tragic incident occurred while the experienced pilot was executing an "acrobatic aerial maneuver" in his open-cockpit Stearman biplane around 2:05 p.m. as part of the Travis Air Force Base Thunder Over Solano air show. According to Col. Mott, the aircraft was in an inverted position and "fairly close to the ground" when it crashed and subsequently caught fire. Travis Air Force Base fire crews responded swiftly but, unfortunately, pronounced Mr. Andreini deceased at the crash site. Thankfully, the crash took place far from the tens of thousands of spectators attending the air show, and no spectators were harmed. The air show had been a major attraction, with an estimated 85,000 attendees on Saturday. Col. Mott believed that a similar number or more were present at Sunday's show. Due to the tragic incident, the air force base made the difficult decision to close down and cancel the remainder of the show, which was scheduled to conclude at 5:30 p.m. Col. Mott mentioned that winds at the time of the crash were measured at approximately 10 to 15 nautical miles but could not confirm if wind played a role in the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the crash. |