Wingwalker Pilot Killed at Ohio Airshow
A vintage Stearman crashed and exploded into flames on Saturday at an Ohio airshow, killing pilot Charlie Schwenker and wingwalker Jane Wicker.
The pair were killed instantly while performing at around 12:45 p.m. at the Vectren Air Show at the Dayton International Airport as thousands of spectators watched. Amateur video of the crash shows Wicker hanging from the lower wing of the Stearman as it rolled slowly inverted before rolling sharply in the opposite direction and cartwheeling into the ground.
Wicker, who owned the airplane and worked as a budget analyst for the FAA, was a well-known performer who started wingwalking in 1990. Schwenker was an award-winning aerobatic pilot and instructor in Virginia.
The show was canceled for the remainder of the day, but resumed on Sunday. No spectators were injured in the crash.
An air show in southwestern Ohio reopened with a moment of silence Sunday, a day after a pilot and wing walker died in a horrifying, fiery crash in front of thousands of spectators.
The Vectren Air Show near Dayton closed after Saturday’s crash but resumed Sunday in honor of pilot Charlie Schwenker and veteran stuntwoman Jane Wicker, both of Virginia.
The two were killed when their plane crashed suddenly in front of spectators who screamed in shock as the aircraft quickly was engulfed in flames. No one else was hurt.
Video of the crash showed their plane gliding through the sky before abruptly rolled over, crashing and exploding into flames. Wicker had been sitting atop the 450 HP Stearmans.
The decision to resume the show a day after the crash was an emotional one supported by Wicker’s ex-husband, said air show general manager Brenda Kerfoot.
“He said, ‘This is what Jane and Charlie would have wanted,'” Kerfoot said. “‘They want you to have a safe show and go out there and do what you do best.'”
Wicker, 44, of Loudon, Va., was a mother of two boys and engaged to be married, Kerfoot said. Schwenker, 64, of Oakton, Va., was married.
The cause of the crash is unclear and the conclusion of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board likely will take months.
Debris from the crash was cleared Saturday after investigators collected what they needed.
Wicker, a seasoned wing walker, was performing Saturday at the Dayton air show for the first time.
Wicker’s website says she responded to a classified ad from the Flying Circus Airshow in Bealeton, Va., in 1990, for a wing-walking position, thinking it would be fun. She was a contract employee who worked as a Federal Aviation Administration budget analyst, the FAA said
In one post on Wicker’s site, the stuntwoman explains what she loved most about her job.
“There is nothing that feels more exhilarating or freer to me than the wind and sky rushing by me as the earth rolls around my head,” says the post. “I’m alive up there. To soar like a bird and touch the sky puts me in a place where I feel I totally belong. It’s the only thing I’ve done that I’ve never questioned, never hesitated about and always felt was my destiny.
She also answered a question she said she got frequently: What about the risk?
“I feel safer on the wing of my airplane than I do driving to the airport,” she wrote. “Why? Because I’m in control of those risks and not at the mercy of those other drivers.”
A program for the air show touted Wicker as performing “heart-stopping” feats and who did moves that “no other wing walker is brave enough to try.”
