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Also see: Walking a Tightrope on Wallenda Post
"Crash in Ohio shows risk, thrill of wing walking; Pilot, performer who died loved jobs, friends say" by Amanda Lee Myers | Associated Press, June 24, 2013
CINCINNATI — Risking death every time they go to work, wing walkers need courage, poise, a healthy craving for adrenaline, and, most importantly, they need to be meticulously exacting with every step they take on the small planes that carry them past dazzled crowds at speeds up to 130 miles per hour.
Jane Wicker fit that bill, her friends and colleagues in the air show industry said Sunday....
Wicker, a mother of two teenage boys and recently engaged, sat helplessly on the plane’s wing as the aircraft suddenly turned and slammed into the ground, exploding on impact and stunning the crowd at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton.
The show closed shortly afterward but reopened Sunday, with a moment of silence for the victims.
The crash drew attention to the rarefied profession of wing walking, which began in the 1920s in the barnstorming era of air shows after World War I.
The practice fell off the middle of the 20th century but picked back up again in the 1970s. Still, there are only about a dozen wing walkers in the United States, said John Cudahy, president of the Leesburg, Va.-based International Council of Air Shows....
Jane Wicker and Charlie Schwenker were killed Saturday in a fiery
plane crash in Dayton, Ohio. Investigators said Sunday that it was too
early to rule anything out as the cause (Thanh V. Tran/Associated Press).
Gee, a small plane crashes and there are parts of the plane left. Jet airliners crash in Pennsylvania, at the Pentagon, and in New York City and they disintegrate.
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