Cockpit footage from the Reno National Championship Air Races on pornoru netSunday captured the intense moment where two planes crashed on the runway.
Pilot Thom Richard was preparing his aircraft to race when he noticed that his plane's engine was not running properly. Richard decided to not participate, so he opened his canopy to signal to his flagman and the rest of the racers that he was not fit to race. But not everyone got the message.
SEE ALSO: Dramatic dash cam footage shows bystanders rescuing woman from burning carThe race began and the aircrafts to either side took off, Richard said he could only hope that the aircraft behind him would veer off to one side and miss hitting his aircraft.
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The aircraft does manage to veer off to the right slightly, but the wing hits Richard's plane and causes it to spin.
Via GiphyIn the YouTube description, Richard recounts the scene.
The impact was violent and loud. His left leading edge shaved off the top several inches from my vertical and skimmed the turtle-deck without touching until it impacted my right hand holding up the canopy, at well over sixty miles an hour. The left landing gear hit the top of the gull-wing center-section, blowing a hole in the top skin and impacted the rear face of the front spar so hard that it broke the landing gear clean off his airplane. The propeller sliced three evenly spaced gashes about mid span of my right wing, about a foot apart. The right landing gear sheared the wing off just short of the right wingtip. The impact spun me around nearly 180º, like a teacup ride at warp eight. The other aircraft came to rest several hundred feet in front of me with a folded gear, damaged wing and sheared propeller facing the other way as well. That pilot received no injuries.
Three things immediately came to mind. Make yourself as small as possible to avoid further injury until things stop moving. Once the aircraft came to rest, DON’T MOVE! And since I was not on fire, wait for help to arrive. I knew my hand was busted and was not looking forward to removing my glove. But it was more important to make sure I had not been struck in the head or hurt my neck or back. After assessing my situation I realized I did not have any further injuries and proceeded to shut the switches off and assist with un-strapping myself from the wreckage. Help was there very quickly, including my flagman.
Both pilots survived the crash with only minor injuries; Richard did suffer a hand injury in the accident. Regardless, he's very lucky to be alive. At least he has a good attitude about the whole thing.
"I’ve used up another of my nine lives, but why would you have nine unless you plan to use them?… We live, learn and race on."