Rocket Jones

March 25, 2004

Flugtag '88 Update

More photos of the actual mid-air collision.

Posted by: Ted at 08:02 AM | category: Flugtag '88
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March 23, 2004

Frecce Tricolori - the Italian Precision Flying Team

These guys are the Italian version of the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, or Red Arrows. But whereas the Angels and such are known for precise machine-like maneuvers, the Italians have flair and panache.

On this page, maneuver #5 is the closest to the 'Pierced Heart' routine which resulted in the disaster at Flugtag. The difference being that the solo plane which breaks from the pack at the top of the split is shown flying off to the left. In the 'Pierced Heart', this plane did the same arc as the rest of the planes, but heading directly away from the crowd. As he came down towards the meet with the rest of the planes, he crossed over the top of the other nine planes and flew directly over the crowd at low altitude. Pretty spectacular.

At Flugtag, that aircraft clipped two of the other planes and broke apart, plowing into the spectators in a giant fireball.

The same modified maneuver is titled "Big Apple (figure 3)", and no mention is made of the "Pierced Heart" routine.

You can see all of the related Flugtag posts here.

Posted by: Ted at 06:18 AM | category: Flugtag '88
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March 22, 2004

Ramstein Flugtag '88

Introduction

I first mentioned the Flugtag Airshow disaster here, and have had three military guys who were on the scene find Rocket Jones via Google searches.

I've been doing further research on it, and have discovered that it's still discussed occasionally on internet Newsgroups. I've seen posts in German, Polish, Italian and English in various places. There is even a Yahoo group devoted to the disaster and those affected by it.

I'm hoping to build a web page dedicated to Flugtag, but until I get time to do that, I'm going to post gathered information here. Check the extended entry, and I'll announce updates as they happen.

There are a lot of links I have to put in, so things will be tweaked and added for a while.

If you're a new visitor to Rocket Jones, you can click on the link immediately below ("Light this candle...") to see the rest of this article. You can also click on the little "Flugtag '88" link at the very bottom of this post to see all Flugtag-related articles. more...

Posted by: Ted at 01:58 AM | category: Flugtag '88
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1 I am looking for help!. I was stationed with 2/60- 3/44 ada on ramstein fron april 86 to jan 89 and was standing to the left side off of the access road to the left of the refer van with my exwife I help with rescue efforts but when I applied to support due to ptsd that was diganosed at the va the dav said there was no record of my helping so the will not give me any support for my ptsd. can anyone help?

Posted by: Rod at June 02, 2004 03:28 PM (UMPJq)

2 I was a security policeman assigned to the disaster response force. I was heavily involved in the aftermath, and in fact.... myself, and a guy named Greg Gillmer carried most of the bodies, and loaded them on flatbed to be taken to the temporary morgue set up in a hanger near the MAC terminal. If you watch "Worlds Worst Airshow Disasters" you will see me briefly assisting an injured man on the ground.

Posted by: Scott Jones at July 14, 2004 09:20 PM (7GScX)

3 My husband and I were stationed at Ramstein. We lived on base. We were at the air show and were just leaving with our small children when all hell broke loose. Beside the obvious, the other thing that left a lasting impression was how "deathly still" (yes!) the base was that evening. I don't even think there was a breeze. You could feel that something had happened. It was very erie. Many of us were outside our quarters talking to others and checking on friends. "Big Brother" had shut down the entire phone system with the flip of a switch. Many people had gone up to Landstuhl to donate blood. And in the days to come, the refridgerated semi-trailers for the bodies; and the many empty/abandoned cars still parked in parking lots and by the side of the road because their owners wouldn't be coming back to drive them home. Indeed, some of their owners would probably never be identified. Then the stories from those who were there, and actually threw themselves to the ground a split second before a ball of fire roared over the top of them, searing the hair off the back of their arms. Months later, they would still talk about it at high speed. PTSD. Then there were the stories from those who had to locate, and clean up, the body parts. Months later, they would still be talking about that; trying to get those images out of their minds. "They" say your life can change in a split second. Anyone at Flugtag '88 Ramstein AB, Germany would tend to agree. I've always found two things to be true: "Timing is everything" and "Everything is a trade-off". To all of you who lost a loved one, or suffered somehow because of the "timing", God bless you. I hope it has gotten easier somewhere along your journey in the "trade-off".

Posted by: Lynne Brown at March 16, 2005 04:59 AM (ywZa8)

4 Lynne, thanks for sharing your experiences and especially for the good words.

Posted by: Ted at March 16, 2005 05:56 AM (blNMI)

5 I was there. I was right by where the fire ball that used to be a plane plowed into the crowd. All were in a dais. All didnt know what to do. I remember the injured walking around, the lucky ones with just thier cloths burned off. I remember.

Posted by: wes at May 07, 2005 02:50 PM (/+gaZ)

6 I was assigned to the 377 SPG and also was heavilly involved in the aftermath. This is definitely the most traumatic thing I have ever witnessed. May God bless us all.

Posted by: Todd Trebuna at May 11, 2005 06:17 PM (abRBm)

7 Like Todd, I was part of the 377 SPG and was also involved with security after the accident. I believe that we were just stationed at Ramstein for a few months. This is the worst, and hopefully last, traumatic experience that I ever want to live through. I think about Flugtag 1988 every on e in a while and get goosebumps. God Bless all of the survivors and everyone who lost a loved one in this horrific incident.

Posted by: Jeff Boam at June 13, 2005 07:15 PM (yiEkW)

8 I remember being there that day and remembering just how crazy some of the flying seemed earlier. A good example was the F-15 that flew over the crowd so low that I still remember looking at the rivets in the aircraft's skin, and the F-16 that "walked" down the length of the runway. When the crash happened, I saw the planes appear to pass each other with a flash and thought "What a neat trick..." then as the one went down into the beer tent I thought "That was no trick!" There was a tremendous red fireball that flew up into the air. The event was so dramatic that I accidentally opened the back of my Nikon and exposed the film before rewinding it, which ruined all the photos that I had taken of the event. I went to see what I could do as I was only about 400 - 500 feet from the impact point, but by the time I made my way close to it was turned away by security when attempting to volunteer. They claimed to have it all under control, and I wasn't about to argue with a line of guys with M-16 rifles out. Getting off the base was impossible due to traffic, so I made my way back to my work area at the 1964th Comm Group. I hung out there until traffic died down, helped troubleshoot a system problem, and finally got off the base at about 10:00 pm. Nobody that I know was seriously injured or killed, but an acquaintence was minorly injured by flying debris (found out by seeing him on TV!) It was an absolutely horrific event that I hope NEVER to see again. To this day I will not go anywhere near any airshow. I pray for all those injured and the families of those killed. Let's hope that nothing like this happens again!

Posted by: John Mazza at June 20, 2005 09:34 PM (WRAlf)

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Crash Site Map

This excellent diagram provided by Gordon Tatro.

(in the extended entry)

Posted by: Ted at 01:55 AM | category: Flugtag '88
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Crash Site Pictures - 1

These are the first three of 21 pictures taken and scanned by Gordon Tatro. For an overview of the crash scene and picture orientation, see the crash site map.