10 DEADLIEST Air Show Disasters In History! (Explained)

The older brother of a massive bully I grew up with was at the Ramstein AFB when the crash happened there. He was in the Airforce and had stopped off to watch the airshow. He remembered the crash and rescuing several people out of harm's way, then as he was carrying a child out he suddenly woke up in a hospital bed. He'd been on fire the entire time and didn't even realize it. He was just so focused on getting people out that he didn't notice his clothes were on fire. He was a big guy and I can imagine the poor kids, scared and alone, and here comes a burning giant to save them. He got the highest award you can get in peace time, but his injuries forced him out of the military. His little brother was a massive asshole, but he was amazing. I was really shocked when I heard what had happened to him.

Andy Hill must have known a good lawyer or had connections in the court system, his negligence and ego killed people

I’m definitely staying away from anything ice cream related if there’s an air show nearby

i like that he does not sensationalize or yell the entire video at me lol

I have friends that attended that air race where the galloping ghost crashed. They were in the area where the plane made impact. Both of them said the sound before impact was horrific. It sounded like a missile hitting the pavement. Body parts and blood everywhere. Everyone was disoriented and shutting down from shock. I heard second hand as well that they had military helicopters on display and the pilot's immediately started them up and started flying all the injured to the nearest hospital. It was the quick actions of spectators, pilot's, airshow staff, emergency crews that saved lives that day. Rip to all the lives lost in this video

Each of these are horrific tragedies. Thank you for your commentary and analysis Hoover.

I learned that it's best to watch airshows on Youtube.

I was at that Toronto Air Show one and was a young kid. Lucky for us, this was the first year they decided to move the show away from crowds and decided to have everything flown over the water. RIP to those who passed that day.

I was at Shoreham, if i close my eyes i can still see it to this day. I was amazed that thousands of people all stood dead quiet as we watched the smoke and flames.

Incredible footage and an excellent commentary. Thank you. RIP to the victims of these disasters.

Regarding the Nimrod crash at Toronto in 1995, I would like to point out that the photo of the crew (and Army personnel) your displaying is that of Nimrod XV230 which crashed in Afghanistan in September 2006, through no fault of their own. The Cave-Haddon report exposed a long standing design issue, coupled with lack of due diligence on behalf of the relevant Engineering and Design Authorities, which resulted in a catastrophic in flight fire.

I've learnt something from this video: Don't go to an airshow.

Thanks for the video. A little surprised not to see Bud Holland's infamous B-52 crash from 1994 included - I know the accident flight was only a practice flight for an upcoming airshow, but he is surely worth a mention every time as to how NOT to fly a plane. Personally think it would be well worth its own piece looking at his dangerous temperament + the associated failures in command that allowed Holland to kill himself along with three other unfortunates.

I have heard of all these terrible accidents. In 1993 at the El Toro Air Show I witnessed the F-86 Sabre crash. I have not been to an airshow since.

The Nimrod had been at an airshow here in my city the week before. I met and chatted with crew, even bought a few patches etc. When I heard that they had crashed and all the crew were killed, I cried. 😢

My old roommate was on the Nimrod. I am pretty sure that the newspaper picture you have included in the video is actually the crew of the Nimrod that went down in Afghanistan. There was a similar shot the day after the Canadian crash. Blue skies Bernie.

The Reno Air Show (held at Stead Airfield) happened 8 miles from my home. We live on a mountain just northeast of the airfield and all the planes flew over this mountain fairly close to where our home is located. Since our house is 1,600 feet above the Stead Airfield, this meant those planes all flew pretty low from my family's perspective. The fireball from this crash seemed to drown out the entire spectator stand. From our view, it looked much worse than it actually was - not to make light of those who became victims - but from our angle it looked like all the grandstands were wiped out. Pretty harrowing day. What still haunts me is this was the fourth airplane crash I had directly witnessed in my life, and the second crash at an air show. The first crash I witnessed was at the (now decommissioned) Hamilton Naval Air Force Base (Marin County, CA). The air show was for military dependents and service members' and not open to the public. The crash involved a Japanese "Zero" A6M that was simulating a dogfight with a wing of US Navy fighters. Behind our house on base was a small hill. Atop that hill was an old WWII air raid siren tower. During the dogfight, the Zero flew too low over the hill and smashed into the wooden siren tower. The plane burst into flames not 200 yards from our rear 2nd floor deck where my family and friends were watching the performance... I was around 6 years old. The second crash was in San Diego. My mom and I had dropped Dad off at his ship as it was getting ready for a Westpac deployment. That was the 1978 PSA crash that was hit by a Cessna and the airliner crashed a few blocks in front of my mom's car as we were stopped at a red light. I was ten when this happened. The third was in El Cajon, CA (San Diego County). I was driving home from work when I saw an F-14 flying toward the Gillespie Airfield. I thought it odd considering that airfield is a small field only suitable for light aircraft and not military jets. The F-14 began to roll, the pilots ejected and the plane crashed into a hangar. I was 20 at the time. The last crash was the Reno Airshow crash as documented in this video. I stopped looking up toward planes since then. I certainly get chills when I think of all the random places I have been when watching planes fall from the sky.

I appreciate you mentioning which disasters were not caused by pilot error.

I watched Bob Hover at the Lincoln airshow in 1972, flew the mustang and a Rockwell twin. Bob flew the pants off that twin, top of a large loop shutdown both engines, did a high speed pass over the runway at about 300 feet, then pulled into a loop at the runway end landing with both engines off. He was simply a amazing guy.

Very well done on these, well reported and described. Thank you. Very sad days for so many in the air show disasters and RIP to the dear souls that perished.