Teh One Who Knocks
08-22-2011, 11:52 AM
By Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Cynthia Johnston
DETROIT (Reuters) - A wingwalker at an air show near Detroit plunged about 200 feet to his death on Sunday as he tried to climb onto a helicopter in mid-air, in the third fatal air performance accident this weekend, officials said.
The death of wingwalker Todd Green comes a day after an aerobatic flyer crashed and died at a Kansas City, Missouri, air show and a British Royal Air Force "Red Arrows" pilot crashed and died at an air festival on the coast of England.
Green was flying atop an aircraft at the Selfridge Air Show, less than 30 miles from Detroit, on Sunday when he fell while trying to perform a transfer to a helicopter, organizers said on a website for the event.
He was taken by ambulance to Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, hospital spokeswoman Diane Kish said.
Video captured by an apparent witness to Green's fall and posted online showed a plane with two parallel sets of wings cruising at a relatively low altitude, with a helicopter flying just overhead.
A man can be seen in the video falling from the plane, as some spectators on the ground cry out in shock.
Green was the son of aerial stuntman Eddie "The Grip" Green, according to the website for the Silver Wings Wingwalking Team.
Todd Green had performed the transfer from an aircraft to a helicopter in the past, according to the website for another air show that had biographical information about Green.
The Selfridge Air Show was held on Saturday and Sunday at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Michigan. Representatives from the base did not return calls.
DETROIT (Reuters) - A wingwalker at an air show near Detroit plunged about 200 feet to his death on Sunday as he tried to climb onto a helicopter in mid-air, in the third fatal air performance accident this weekend, officials said.
The death of wingwalker Todd Green comes a day after an aerobatic flyer crashed and died at a Kansas City, Missouri, air show and a British Royal Air Force "Red Arrows" pilot crashed and died at an air festival on the coast of England.
Green was flying atop an aircraft at the Selfridge Air Show, less than 30 miles from Detroit, on Sunday when he fell while trying to perform a transfer to a helicopter, organizers said on a website for the event.
He was taken by ambulance to Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, hospital spokeswoman Diane Kish said.
Video captured by an apparent witness to Green's fall and posted online showed a plane with two parallel sets of wings cruising at a relatively low altitude, with a helicopter flying just overhead.
A man can be seen in the video falling from the plane, as some spectators on the ground cry out in shock.
Green was the son of aerial stuntman Eddie "The Grip" Green, according to the website for the Silver Wings Wingwalking Team.
Todd Green had performed the transfer from an aircraft to a helicopter in the past, according to the website for another air show that had biographical information about Green.
The Selfridge Air Show was held on Saturday and Sunday at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Michigan. Representatives from the base did not return calls.