Hillsboro, Oregon. Airshow Crash [Archive]

Flying Microphone

17th Jul 2006, 08:56

Some local news clippings from the US here...

http://www.oregonlive.com/newslogs/oregonian/index.ssf?/mtlogs/olive_oregonian_news/archives/2006_07.html

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Pilot felt responsibility to "people on the ground," son says
Steve Guilford has a good sense of what his father, Robert Guilford, was trying to do in the moments before his jet crashed shortly after taking off from Hillsboro Airport.

Giulford said he learned of Sunday’s crash from his father’s mechanic at Van Nuys Airport. Based on information from him and news reports, Guilford said it sounded as though his father stayed with the aircraft rather than ejecting, because as soon as he would have ejected, the plane would have nosed into the ground.

“That’s why he didn’t eject,” Guilford told The Oregonian. “When you fly these things, you have a responsibility to the people on the ground. The seat had just been overhauled, and I feel confident if he could have, he would have used it. Knowing there was a field close by tells me he stayed with it until it was too late.”

Despite his love of flying some of the most powerful combat airplanes ever built, Guilford, 43, said his father was a conservative pilot.

He said his father was a “major player” in the combat airplane community, and was a co-founder of Warbirds of America in the early 60s. He said his father owned a number of P-51 Mustangs, a Corsair, a Yugoslavian jet and the Hawker Hunter jet that crashed Sunday.

“He was not a fly-by-night guy,” he said. “He knew what he was doing, and kept his airplanes very well maintained. It sounds like Sunday there was some kind of mechanical failure, a flameout.”

Pilot killed in crash experienced in flying warplanes
The pilot of a historic British fighter jet died Sunday afternoon when his plane plunged into a Hillsboro neighborhood, just after taking off from the Oregon International Airshow.

A Hawker-Siddeley Hunter MK-58 piloted by Robert E. Guilford, a 73-year-old Los Angeles aviation lawyer, struck a home at Northeast 60th Avenue and Harvest Street. The craft exploded in a fireball that spread to three more houses in the neighborhood about 1 mile east of the Hillsboro Airport, near the Orenco Station area.

No one on the ground was injured, said Connie King, Hillsboro Fire Department spokeswoman.

Witnesses said the single-engine, swept-wing jet lost power immediately before the crash. They described a bright-blue plane silently skimming the treetops of the dense suburban Sunset Downs neighborhood just blocks from a large Intel campus.

Terry Betts was in his back yard when he saw the plane slipping low over the housetops.

“It was just a quiet glide and then black smoke,” he said.

Betts said it looked as though the pilot might be trying to get the struggling plane beyond the houses to a nearby open field.

The plane, which had been on static display during the weekend air show, departed the airport to the north at 4:20 p.m. It looped back before striking the ground just out of view of thousands of people attending the annual show.

Steve Callaway, an air show spokesman, said Guilford was returning to Southern California after showing the plane as part of The Warbirds of America. The group is made up of pilots and others interested in the preservation of old military aircraft.

Steve Guilford of Los Angeles said his father was scheduled to land at Van Nuys Airport on Sunday evening.

“He was a very experienced pilot, with over 4,000 hours in all types of combat aircraft,” Guilford said. “He loved flying.”

Steve Guilford said he was grateful that no one on the ground was injured or killed.

Hillsboro police and firefighters surrounded the accident site Sunday evening. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration were at the site Sunday night and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were expected to arrive at the site Monday.

Officials confirm pilot died in crash, no other fatalities reported
A historic British fighter jet plunged into a Hillsboro neighborhood Sunday afternoon, just minutes after taking off from the Oregon International Airshow.

A Hawker-Siddeley Hunter MK-58A owned by Robert E. Guilford, a California aviation lawyer, crashed about 1 mile east of the Hillsboro Airport, just west of the Orenco Station neighborhood after witnesses said the plane lost power. Witnesses said the single-engine jet struck a home near Northeast 60th Avenue and Harvest Street and exploded, spreading flames to as many as three more homes.

Connie King, a Hillsboro Fire Department spokeswoman, said Sunday evening that the pilot died in the crash. Officials did not release the name of the pilot. She said there were no other fatalities.

Dana Bryson, 49, of Clackamas said he ran to the back of the house struck by the plane just after the impact. As another man grabbed a hose, Bryson ran to the front door.

“I told the guy with the hose to get down, and I kicked the door open,” Bryson said. “Thick black smoke came pouring out. He sprayed the hose while I yelled to see if anyone was inside. There was no answer.”

Bryson said he ran to the back of the house.

“I saw a part of the fuselage and engine was just lying on the back patio ... it was still spinning,” he said. “It was crazy. There were no wings. Intense fire, flames.”

Terry Betts, who lives near the Hillsboro crash site, said he was in his backyard when he saw a blue airplane gliding low over houses. He heard no engine noises. “It was just a quiet glide and then black smoke,” he said.

Betts ran several blocks toward the house, where there was an explosion. He heard popping noises inside.

Every year, he said, he thinks about the planes going overheard during the air show. “You just live with that,” he said.

He said it looked as though the pilot might be trying to get beyond the houses to a nearby open field when he crashed.

The plane, which had been on static display during the weekend air show, departed the airport for Southern California at 4:20 p.m., looped north over U.S. 26 before swinging back near the airport. The plane lost power and struck the ground, just out of view of thousands of people attending the annual air show.

Thousands of spectators saw the plane take off and move at a slower-than-expected rate from the west.

“He was floating, hardly moving,” said Don Wellman of Battle Ground.

All of a sudden, the plane dropped out of sight several hundred feet behind a group of trees.

Most assumed it was part of the show. The two-day event had been packed with plane-swirling stunts, faked failed landings and even a choreographed move where a piece of a plane’s wing was detached mid-air.

“It’s creepy,” said Wellman’s son, Sean. “We weren’t sure it was a joke or if he was pulling a stunt.”

Then a cloud of thick black smoke billowed from behind the trees.

The audience went silent, stunned by the dark turn of events, and commentators stopped the music.

“It was just horrendous,” said Carla Smith, who traveled from near St. Helens to see the show. “When you saw the smoke, you know that the worst possible thing had happened.”

Oregon National Guard helicopter joins search in Linn County
An Oregon National Guard helicopter joined a search Sunday for a 36-year-old man who walked from a campsite Friday near Sweet Home and did not return.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the search, is not releasing the man’s name, a sheriff’s office dispatcher said.

The man was among a group of five people who went camping near Donaca Lake in the Middle Santiam Wilderness.

The man’s companions called the sheriff’s office on Saturday when they were not able to locate him, said Capt. Mike Braibish of the Oregon National Guard.

Hillsboro man saw plane go down
Terry Betts, of Northeast 56th Avenue in Hillsboro, said he was in his back yard when he saw a blue airplane gliding low over houses. He heard no engine noises. "It was just a quiet glide and then black smoke," he said.

Betts ran several blocks toward the house, where there was an explosion. He heard popping noices inside..

Every year, he said, he thinks about the planes going overheard during the air show. "You just live with that," he said.

He said it looked as though the pilot might be trying to get beyond the houses to an open field when he crashed.

Witnesses describe explosions and fire from plane crash
At least two homes caught fire Sunday after a small jet aircraft crashed near the Hillsboro Airport, fire officials said.

Josh Boer, 24, of Beaverton, was selling raffle tickets door-to-door for a new company in the Sunset Downs neigbhorhood of Hillsboro, when the plane "kind of floated down," landing directly on top of a two-story house in front of him.

Boer estimated that he was just 20 yards away.

"It just fell out of the sky," Boer said. "The house exploded and the plane disintegrated. ... There was a huge fireball. ... We just ran."

The approximately 4:30 p.m. crash occurred toward the end of the two-day 2006 Oregon International Airshow held at the Hillsboro Airport. The plane was described as a Hawker Hunter jet fighter. No report on casualties was immediately available.

The crash occurred near the intersection of Northeast Harvest and 60th Avenue.

Boer said a colleague had just knocked on the door of the house hit by the plane, but no one came to the door. After the plane crashed, Boer and his friends went to the houses on either side to make sure everyone had gotten out.

Dana Bryson, 49, of Clackamas was driving through the area when he saw the smoke and heard an explosion. He ran the back of the house the plane landed on. Another man grabbed a hose, and Bryson ran to the front door.

"I told the guy with the hose to get down, and I kicked the door open,'' Bryson said. "Thick, black smoke came pouring out. He sprayed the hose while I yelled to see if anyone was inside. There was no answer."

Bryson then ran around to the back of the house. It was chaos.

"I saw a part of the fuselage and engine was just lying on the back patio. ... It was still spinning,'' he said. "It was crazy. There were no wings. Intense fire, flames."

Bryson said the flames spread to houses on either side, and nearby trees. He said there were two or three additional explosions as he stood there, perhaps from propane tanks from barbecue grills or the plane itself.

Plane crash sets homes on fire
At least two homes caught fire Sunday after a small plane crashed near the Hillsboro Airport, fire officials said.

Josh Boer, 24, of Beaverton, was selling raffle tickets door-to-door for a new company in the Sunset Downs neigbhorhood of Hillsboro, when the plane "kind of floated down" landing directly on top of a two-story house in front of him.

Boer estimated that he was just 20 yards away.

"It just fell out of the sky," Boer said. "The house exploded and the plane disintegrated. ... There was a huge fireball. ... We just ran."

Boer said a colleague had just knocked on the door of the house hit by the plane, but no one came to the door. After the plane crashed, Boer and his friends went to the houses on either side to make sure everyone had gotten out.

Hawker Hunter plane crashes at air show
A Hawker Hunter military plane with a pilot aboard crashed about 40 seconds after takeoff about 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the 2006 Oregon International Airshow held at the Hillsboro Airport.