Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Sunday that there were six fatalities in the mid-air collision that occurred at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow on Saturday afternoon.
Six people were killed after two historic military planes collided and fell to the ground during an air show in Dallas on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
“According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there were a total of 6 fatalities in yesterday’s Wings over Dallas air show incident,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Sunday. He said authorities were continuing to work to identify the victims.
The Allied Pilots Association, the union for American Airlines pilots, said on Twitter that two of its former members, Terry Barker and Len Root, were on board the B-17 and died.
The accident happened around 1:20 p.m. On Saturday, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided at the Wings Over Dallas airshow at Dallas Executive Airport, according to information from the Federal Aviation Administration.
There have been no reports of injuries on the ground, but Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said the collision debris field includes parts of the executive airport site, Highway 67, and a nearby shopping mall.
The B-17 would normally have a crew of four or five and the Kingcobra would only have one pilot, said Hank Coates, CEO and president of the Commemorative Air Force, the organization behind the show, at a press conference Saturday night.
There were no paying customers aboard the B-17, he said.
Because the family must be notified of any possible deaths and because federal investigators have assumed jurisdiction, Coates said he was unable to release manifestos or information about the deaths.
The two planes were part of the non-profit organization’s fleet of 180 planes, which were used at its own air shows and those of other groups to demonstrate how the planes were used in World War II. .
“It was kind of a World War II flying display,” Coates said. “It’s very patriotic.”
There was about an hour left on the show when the collision happened, he said. He said the planes are meticulously maintained and the pilots are not only experienced – often from the world of passenger aircraft or military aviation or both – but the CAF conducts its own examination and preparation.
“There is a very rigorous vetting and training process in place,” Coates said.
The show marked the organization’s seventh year in Dallas, where at least 4,000 people attended on Saturday, organizers said.
Johnson said the National Transportation Safety Board will take control of the crime scene and investigation. Coates said the NTSB is expected to take command of the FAA late Saturday night. “As many of you saw, we had a terrible tragedy in our city at an air show today,” Johnson said. “Many details are currently unknown or unconfirmed.”
Rescuers rushed to the crash site at Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles from downtown.