A Return To The Blog: Soccer Referee Is A Dangerous Job

It has been a crazy summer and fall this year, that’s for sure. There’s been a lot for me to catch up on. SeaWorld and the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau continues to make news after the park appealed an OSHA decision limiting trainer interaction with orca whales. The tragic death of Cirque du Soleil acrobat Sarah Guillot-Guyard in a Las Vegas show drew attention to safety issues with harnesses. Wing walker Jane Wicker and her pilot Charlie Schwenker died while preforming at an airshow June 22 in Ohio. There have been several racing related accidents that resulted in drivers’ deaths, and certainly more stories that I’ve missed on my brief attempt at scanning the headlines.

The one story that grabbed my attention the most, however, was the news in July of a soccer game in Brazil, where referee Otavio da Silva and player Josenir dos Santos Abreu got into an altercation during a match. Referee Da Silva apparently decided that the best way to end the argument was to stab Abreu, even though his family, fans and teammates were watching the scene play out. Abreu eventually died of his wound. Fans decided to punish da Silva and in a textbook case of mob mentality brutally killed the referee. 

A Deadspin article states, “They reportedly tied up the referee, beat him, stoned him, lynched him, and then quartered him. When they finished, they cut off his head and placed it on a stake in the center of the field.” There was an attempt at finding and arresting the ones who killed da Silva, but as of the last reports I have heard only one arrest was made. The article also provides a link to a video of what appears to be hospital staff trying to reassemble da Silva’s body like a jigsaw puzzle. I have been known to link to brutal videos from this blog before, but I’m going to leave it out in this case. I have the stomach for it, but I’m not sure too many other people do. It is truly stomach-churning, so be careful, dear reader, if you decided to look for it.

That story makes the other major soccer ref death seem tame by comparison. A Utah teenage soccer player punched referee Ricardo Portillo during a game in Salt Lake City on April 27. Portillo fell into a coma and died May 4. The teen has been charged with manslaughter, and due to the fact that he was 17 at the time, could be charged as an adult.

Chinese Pilot Confirmed Dead

The pilot who couldn't escape from the jet crash at the Beijing airshow has been confirmed to have been killed in the crash. One other pilot was able to eject, and no spectators were injured. Here is one article about the incident.

Jet Crashes At Chinese Air Show: One Pilot Feared Dead

AP is reporting that a jet crashed at an air show in Beijing. One pilot was able to eject, but the other is missing and presumed dead. More information here.

Reno's Air Race Pilot Was Lifelong Aviator

Air Racer Jimmy Leeward had skill and experience behind him. A May 2011 article in EAA Sport Aviation states that his father taught him to fly as a child and was at the controls by age 11 or 12.

Leeward has appeared in several Hollywood films as a stunt pilot. The 74-year-old pilot even developed a gated community with its own airpark, simply so others who shared his passion of piloting and working on planes could live near each other.

Leeward died Friday, Sept. 16 when his P-51 Mustang plane crashed into the VIP section at the National Championship Air Races, held at the Reno Stead Airport. At this time, nine spectators are reported dead, and six remain in critical condition.

While the investigation into the accident is it the early stages, reports seem to be focusing on a part of the plane, named "The Galloping Ghost," which may have fell off just before the plane went out of control. This piece, called an elevator trim tab, which assists the pilot with stabilizing the pitch of the plane.

Much is being made of the other modifications Leeward and his crew made to the plane to turn it into a racing machine, which include taking five inches off of the length of each wing and other modifications that, to the layperson, sounds a lot like taking important things off of a working plane.

There is even an interview posted on YouTube, the June 2011 National Championship Air Races Podcast, where Leeward makes a chilling-in-hindsight statement: "I know the speed. I know it will do the speed. The systems aren't proven yet. We think they're going to be okay."

This quote is getting some press. However, without knowing much about Leeward or his personality, it almost sounds to me like he is teasing his competition with the possibility that the plane won't be ready to race in time. It seems impossible that a racing professional such as Leeward would enter a race in a plane without having thoroughly tested all changes and modifications to his craft. Leeward, of all people, would know the risks of flying at the aircraft's limits without making sure the changes were safe. I certainly hope that the investigation proves that.

You can view the entire podcast here:

Pilot Identified In West Virginia Air Show Crash

The pilot who died in this weekend's second fatal airshow crash was named. He was John "Flash" Mangan, a father of three and 13-year serviceman in the Air Force. He died in front of the crowd at the Thunder Over The Blue Ridge airshow Saturday, Sept. 17.

His accident and death seems to be getting overshadowed by the crash in Reno, admittedly a harder crash to comprehend since spectators' deaths were involved, so I thought I'd take the time to look into Mangan's accident here.

The AP has and article up interviewing Mangan's son that gives insight into this pilot. You can find it here: AP interview with Sean Mangan.

West Virginia Air Show Crash, Sept. 17, 2011

After Reno's air crash, another heartbreaking accident happened Saturday at an airshow in Martinsburg, WV. The pilot was the only fatality in this accident. Again, video of the accident is already showing up on YouTube.

Video From Reno Air Race Crash: Sept. 16, 2011

As of this writing, there are reports that the pilot and at least 8 spectators have died in the Reno, Nevada air race crash that is all over the news. Video of the crash, from several different angles, is showing up all over YouTube. Here are just a couple of them:

Close up video of the impact:

HD video of the crash