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Tapes: Rescue crews on scene two minutes after fatal air show crash
Firefighters traveled 2,500 feet to get to burning stunt plane
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
DAYTON — Fire rescue crews were at the scene of stunt pilot Jim LeRoy's fatal crash at the Vectren Dayton Air Show two minutes after the first dispatch, and had the fire extinguished within three minutes, according to tapes of emergency communications the city released Monday.
LeRoy, 46, was pronounced dead while being airlifted to a hospital Saturday afternoon from the fiery crash of his Bulldog Pitts biplane at Dayton International Airport, the city-owned and operated airport that hosts the air show and provides fire emergency service. LeRoy was killed instantly by the force of the 200-mph impact, the Montgomery County coroner ruled Sunday after doing an autopsy.
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The Federal Aviation Administration requires that within three minutes of an alarm at an airport, the first rescue vehicle must reach the midpoint of the farthest runway serving an air carrier's aircraft.
According to the tapes, the FAA-operated control tower called an emergency dispatcher at 2:38:12 p.m. to report the crash. Exactly two minutes later, a fire rescue unit was at the scene, according to the tapes.
Another airport rescue unit had arrived just prior to that and began working, but that is not recorded on the tapes, said Tom Biedenharn, a spokesman for Dayton city government. The fire was reported extinguished at 2:41:10 p.m.
"The Dayton airport fire crews responded as fast as humanly possible," Biedenharn said.
The response crews came from the airport firehouse about 2,500 feet from where the crash occurred, Biedenharn said. The crews are stationed at the firehouse so they can cover the entire airport from there, said Mark Carpenter, the airport's fire rescue manager.
Six airport fire staff members were on duty at the time of LeRoy's crash, one more than the minimum staffing level of four firefighters and an officer, Carpenter said. They were backed up by Dayton Fire Department personnel and emergency responders from the airport's neighboring communities under a mutual-aid agreement, Carpenter said.
Mike Fasnacht, president of the Dayton Fire Fighters Local 136 union, said the city should have had more firefighters assigned, in case of emergencies involving the 40,000 or so spectators and air show staff.
Wayne Boggs, a Tampa, Fla., consultant who specializes in air traffic control for air shows, said he could not assess the Dayton airport's fire response without knowing the layout of the air show and the airport itself.
"In any type of emergency situation in our industry, 30 seconds is an eternity," Boggs said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that it could release initial factual findings about the crash by the end of next week.
A final investigative report could take more than a year, spokesman Peter Knudson said.
Staff Writer Joanne Huist Smith contributed to this report.
More about the crash and pilot
- Government: Pilot error in fatal air show crash
- Announcer comforted crowd, wife after crash
- Memorial planned for pilot
- Tapes: Rescue crews on scene 2 minutes after air show crash
- NTSB may release crash info next week
- NTSB: Report on fatal crash by next week
- Air show pilot died instantly after crash
- NTSB takes over inquiry into fatal air show plane crash
- Crash 'a harsh reminder' of risk
- Pilot killed in crash was a full-time performer
- A stunned crowd watches crash, then prays for flier
- Many spectators shocked, silenced by air show tragedy
- What it was like to photograph crash: A dreaded scene, a sickly feeling
- Black Hawk flies pilot to hospital
- Act that included LeRoy meant to awe, thrill
- About the plane
- Statement about Sunday's air show
- Photos of crash, earlier performance
- Diagram: How the crash happened
- Spectator video of air show crash
- Raw video of crash
