Watch Scary Close Call At Fort Lauderdale Airshow
A scary scene at the Fort Lauderdale airshow happened over the weekend. This happened when a group called the Ghost Squadron was performing. Two jets touched wings during the performance and lost control of their aircraft for a short period. Both pilots regained control of their aircraft before anything bad happened. Both jets were able to land safely and no one was hurt.
On the Fort Lauderdale Airshow’s website here is what they say about Ghost Squadron. It says, “The Polaris Program’s Ghost Squadron’s fleet of jets provides training opportunities for astronauts from Polaris Program missions and other spaceflight initiatives. Training in a jet allows astronauts to enhance their crew resource management & navigation skills in a high-G, dynamic, and high-consequence environment – providing valuable real-world experience ahead of missions to space.”
Watch The Two Planes Touch At The Fort Lauderdale Airshow
A person who was visiting the beach that day was taking video when the incident happened. It is scary and I am so glad that both pilots were able to recover without anything bad happening.
Check out the video of the close call below.
In addition to the Ghost Squadron performing, there were other cool performances by other groups at the Airshow. The US Air Force Thunderbirds performed, as well as the Red Bull helicopter and SOCOM Para-Commandos.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa hosts Tampa Bay AirFest, which draws over 150,000 people. The Tampa Bay AirFest happened in 2024, but won’t happen again for the next 3 to 4 years because of construction projects happening at MacDill.
Accidents At Airshows Are Rare But Do Happen
Accidents at airshows are rare but they do happen. There was a study about the US civil airshow crashes from 1993 to 2013. It showed that there was a crash rate of 31 crashes per 1000 civil air events.
The deadliest airshow happened in 1988 at Rammstein Airbase in Germany. Three aircraft from the Italian Air Force collided and crashed in front of a crowd of around 300,000 people. 70 people died including 67 spectators and three pilots.