Update and correction: Jimmy Leeward, the pilot of the Mustang P51 that crashed in Reno was first reported by media to be 80 years old. He is actually one month shy of being 75. TMV regrets carrying the error forward. Dr.E, M.Ed.
Being closer to 80 than to 20 years of age, I bristle when people say ‘old people’ cant, shouldnt, ought not to (fill in the blank with any number of harmless, funny, serious endeavors)
But/And, though I know firsthand as an USAF wife for two decades, the pride and long-lasting love military pilots and miltary admirers’ of old WWII planes …have for the skies and the machines that lift like metal birds…
However, one has to be in excellent health to fly no matter what age, excellent eyesight, excellent hearing, excellent spatial perception, no health problems like heart and diabetes, epilepsy or ms. The pilot has to have excellent reaction times. There will no doubt in coming days be journos on all sides of the age issue. Some ‘agin, some for… the elders of the tribes retaining full rights to fullest life choices, for Jimmy Leeward and his primo P51 both went down today. Jimmy Leeward the pilot in the air race being 80 years old.
You can see more picture of the fall from the sky, here.
All of us have driven maddeningly behind or been nearly sideswiped by some car driven by a little ancient guy or gal behind a steering wheel they can hardly see over any more…. One would swear they are driving with a blanket over the windshield and never got a driver’s license for all their wavering over double yellow lines and creeping along in the passing lane like leaves turning yellow in the autumn.
It is true that people of all ages and conditions drive… while loaded one way or the other, while not paying attention, while paying too much attention and being in a frightful state of anxiety, while screeching on the telephone, whilst read a book for schist’s sake…
Curtailing people who have ‘bad habits’ while driving… a car or a plane… well, there are a legionof stories about people who do all manner of things on the ground and in the air, that endanger themselves and others.
As they say back to home: “Gov’mint’s job aint to ‘pertect everyones.”
But maybe some of the time, it is the lawmakers job to protect not the individual exactly, but those the individual might harm.
Jimmy Leeward died today. And those on the scene say “equipment failure.” And others say they could see the effort the pilot made to try to pull away from the stands filled with spectators as he was going nose down.
As it was, there are many injuries, and 3 deaths total is the tally at the moment, with 25 in hospital with critical injuries.
All the way around and for many reasons, the Reno Air Race, turned into what the P51 was made for… the early ones [were later made to fly at high altitudes] were rattle bags at high altitudes, thus [that first prototype] was used for part ofWWII to create mayhem on the ground and to lend troop support. Today, it was mayhem. Now, many many will need other kinds of support in the coming days.
May all be comforted and held in every way possible, the mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, young lovers, friends… may all find solace and peace in the coming days.