NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. (AP) – The first-ever New York Air Show opened Saturday with a moment of silence and tributes to mark the death a day earlier of a Texas stunt pilot killed when he crashed during practice.
Daredevils spiraled, corkscrewed and rolled through sunny skies in New Windsor, about an hour north of New York City, the same day a National Transportation Safety Board investigator arrived to examine the death of stunt pilot Andrew Wright.
Pilot Mike Wiskus of Minneapolis said the maneuvers were safe despite the death of Wright, 53, an Austin, Texas, pilot whose single-engine plane crashed in a marshy area near Stewart International Airport.
“We put our lives on the line. We do,” he said. “And it’s not as risky as a lot of people think.”
Wiskus said stunt flying is tightly regulated and pilots are always cognizant of safety.