The Bell Law Firm, PLLC

The list of possible causes of the air show accident earlier this month continues to expand, as does the speculation about the Federal Aviation Administration's response. During the air race, a plane slammed into the crowd of onlookers, killing 11 and injuring many more. Soon after that, another air show pilot died in West Virginia.

This will be a shift for the FAA, the agency responsible for spectator safety at air shows and air races. This is the first accident of its kind, and, says one accident investigation expert, the question now is, "How much risk is the federal government willing to take?"

According to a veteran pilot who also competed in the race, the FAA has long adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward pilots -- if they want to kill themselves, the pilot explains, the FAA won't interfere. When it comes to killing anyone else, though, the FAA is fully engaged. The agency will do its "darnedest" to keep that from happening.

There is only the one air race in the U.S., but there are about 350 air shows every year. The FAA requires spectators to be a minimum of 500 feet away from planes flying normally at both the race and the shows. If planes are performing maneuvers, though, spectators must be at a 1,500-foot distance.

Maneuvers include the sharp turns or steep climbs that characterize the race.

The FAA is not at all blasé about the risk at the race. That day in Reno, FAA inspectors were on hand at the site, as were investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board. Experience had told them that the danger was to the pilots, not the crowd. The race had seen 19 pilots die.

Yet the plane in Reno crossed the safety zone and went down at what the FAA has long considered a safe distance. So now what?

The FAA has not commented on its plans. Pilots, though, suspect rule changes are in the offing.

We'll discuss what pilots say caused the crash in our next post.

Source: Los Angeles Times, "Figuring out how to avoid another Reno air crash," Ralph Vartabedian, Dan Weikel and Paul Pringle, Sept. 26, 2011