Four dead in twin crashes at giant Experimental Aircraft Association air show in Wisconsin
The skies turned deadly around one of the world’s biggest aviation events this weekend, as four people died in a pair of crashes associated with the annual EAA Airventure show in Oshkosh, Wisc.
Two people died Saturday in one collision, when a helicopter and a gyrocopter collided near Wittman Regional Airport, the site of the airshow, said FOX11 News of Green Bay, Wisc.
Two other victims were rushed to a hospital and were said to be stable condition, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association, which sponsors the show.
The collision was reportedly between a Rotorway 162F helicopter and an ELA Eclipse 10 gyrocopter, and occurred around 12:30 p.m.
The crash involved aircraft belonging to people attending the show, FOX11 said. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the incident.
The incident temporarily shut down the Wittman Airport for two hours, until the show later resumed at 2:30 p.m.
Earlier on Saturday, at around 9:06 a.m., a small aircraft crashed into Lake Winnebago, which lies to the east of Oshkosh, the Coast Guard reported.
The aircraft was carrying two people attending the airshow, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department said.
One body was pulled from the plane later Saturday morning, the sheriff’s department told FOX11. Searchers were looking for the second passenger, who is presumed dead, according to the Oshkosh Northwestern.
The plane that crashed in the lake was a T-6 Texan, the Coast Guard said. It was reportedly manufactured in 1944, and was used to train Air Force and Navy pilots from World War II to the 1970s.
The EAA air show, said to be the world’s largest, attracts hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts and over 10,000 aircraft each year.
