There's something to be said about the magic of flight. Ever since the Wright Brothers invented the first plane, we've learned to push the limits in the air. Unfortunately, accidents can happen very easily in the air, and the consequences can be fatal. This was the case for Kyle and Amanda Franklin, whose biplane crashed earlier this year at the Brownsville Air Fiesta.
Kyle and Amanda were a young married couple who enjoyed flying and performing. Kyle would control the plane while Amanda would do her wingwalker performance for the crowds. On that March day, however, something went wrong with their Waco UPF-7, forcing Kyle to make a crash landing.
Luckily Amanda was able to crawl into the front cockpit before Kyle had to put the plane down into a few scrub trees off the runway. Kyle walked away from the accident with a few injuries, but Amanda was badly burned in the fire upon landing. She was rushed to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, but died just 15 days later from her injuries.
Upon continued research and inspection The National Transportation Safety Board has stated they cannot determine the exact cause of the crash. The NTSB even used a similar engine from TulsaAircraftEngines to test for problems and found no glitches.
Photos and videos of the performance did show the engine smoking, with flames shooting from the exhaust. This usually means the engine was"flooded" or there was too much fuel in it, but tests showed there was no reason for the flooding and loss of power.
Amanda had said just days before the accident that she was concerned about the plane's extra stiff landing gear; that it could cause the plane to flip on its back in the event of an emergency landing. The landing gear did collapse the day of their accident, but the plane remained upright.
Even more strange is that the plane was run at various power settings for about 15 minutes. Kyle also completed a full performance the day prior to the crash and the plane ran just 15 minutes before the flight.
Air Fiesta Chairman, David Hughston, said it was a terrible case of things going wrong, despite the Franklin's experience and proper maintenance of their plane. "Airplane engines normally are extremely reliable," he continued. "It's just like in a car. Sometimes your car quits for no reason. It couldn't have quit at a worse time" The final report from the NTSB was that there was a loss of power to the engine for undetermined reasons. For more personal injury news, check out out Rio Grande Valley injury lawyer blog at Davis Law.
Kyle and Amanda were a young married couple who enjoyed flying and performing. Kyle would control the plane while Amanda would do her wingwalker performance for the crowds. On that March day, however, something went wrong with their Waco UPF-7, forcing Kyle to make a crash landing.
Luckily Amanda was able to crawl into the front cockpit before Kyle had to put the plane down into a few scrub trees off the runway. Kyle walked away from the accident with a few injuries, but Amanda was badly burned in the fire upon landing. She was rushed to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, but died just 15 days later from her injuries.
Upon continued research and inspection The National Transportation Safety Board has stated they cannot determine the exact cause of the crash. The NTSB even used a similar engine from TulsaAircraftEngines to test for problems and found no glitches.
Photos and videos of the performance did show the engine smoking, with flames shooting from the exhaust. This usually means the engine was"flooded" or there was too much fuel in it, but tests showed there was no reason for the flooding and loss of power.
Amanda had said just days before the accident that she was concerned about the plane's extra stiff landing gear; that it could cause the plane to flip on its back in the event of an emergency landing. The landing gear did collapse the day of their accident, but the plane remained upright.
Even more strange is that the plane was run at various power settings for about 15 minutes. Kyle also completed a full performance the day prior to the crash and the plane ran just 15 minutes before the flight.
Air Fiesta Chairman, David Hughston, said it was a terrible case of things going wrong, despite the Franklin's experience and proper maintenance of their plane. "Airplane engines normally are extremely reliable," he continued. "It's just like in a car. Sometimes your car quits for no reason. It couldn't have quit at a worse time" The final report from the NTSB was that there was a loss of power to the engine for undetermined reasons. For more personal injury news, check out out Rio Grande Valley injury lawyer blog at Davis Law.
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