Reno air race has raised alarm in past over danger

RENO, Nev. (AP) — It's like an Indianapolis 500 in the sky.

Thrill-seeking pilots zoom by at speeds up to 500 mph as spectators "ooh" and "aah" at the site of jets, vintage planes and high-performance aircraft whizzing past with their wingtips nearly touching.

Even the sounds are awe-inspiring amid the deafening roar of airplanes that are sometimes just few hundred feet away from spectators.

But the consequences can be deadly. The air race in Reno where a vintage plane plummeted from the sky and killed at least nine people has drawn scorn over the years as critics assailed the event as a recipe for the kind of disaster that played out on Friday in front of thousands of people.

The crash has led to calls that officials consider ending the event, the only one of its kind in the United States.

"I think an accident of this nature, it certainly threatens the future of the air races," said Doug Bodine, a pilot who has raced at Reno for the last six years. "Both the FAA and [Reno race] will suffer extensive and ongoing scrutiny, and I think they need to consider ending the air races as one of the options."