'He walks with God now': Wheelchair-bound victim and married plane enthusiasts among the dead in Reno air show crash
- Family of 22-year-old finance graduate says he is 'walking with God now'
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A former Air Canada pilot and his wife were among those killed at the Reno aircrash on Friday when they were sitting in box seats with a group of vintage military plane owners.
George Hewitt, 60, and his wife, Wendy, 57, were among nine who died when a 1940s-era plane hurtled into a crowd at the National Championship Air Races in Reno. The pilot Jimmy Leeward also died.
Mr Hewitt was born in Winnipeg and flew as a pilot with Air Canada for more than 40 years. His brother said he remained an enthusiastic pilot upon retirement. The couple had four children.
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Double death: George, a former Air Canada pilot, and Wendy Hewitt were both killed when the plane crashed
Mr Hewitt owned a small Navion propeller plane, a post-World War II plane originally built by the same company that produced the P-51 Mustang - the model which killed him.
Among the nine who were killed was also a man who overcame a disability to earn a college degree and start his own internet company.
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ShareMichael Wogan, 22, who had muscular dystrophy, was sitting with his father on Friday in an area for wheelchairs at the air show's VIP boxes - near where investigators say the World War II-era plane crashed, a family spokeswoman said.
The Arizona State University graduate was killed and his father, Bill Wogan, was hospitalised in serious condition.
Prom: Michael, centre, with his mother Anne and his two siblings, Billy, left, and James, right, before his prom in 2007
Model student: Michael Wogan overcame his disability to graduate from Arizona State University with a degree in finance
The Washoe County, Nev., medical examiner identified another victim as 47-year-old Greg Morcom, of Marysville, Wash., KOMO-TV reported. Morcom was at the air show with four family members. It was his first trip to the event.
'He was killed instantly,' Greg's brother, Ron Morcom Jr. told KOMO. 'There was no suffering.'
Ron Morcom owns Regal Air at Paine Field in Everett, Wash., and says he has been going to the air races in Reno with his father for more than 20 years.
'All of us know that there is some risk and some dangers, but you certainly don't expect something like this to happen,' Morcom told KOMO.
The grief-stricken mother of Michael Wogan, Anne, released a statement on Sunday, saying: 'We celebrate Michael’s life and, although we will miss him dearly, we have such peace and joy knowing that he is not suffering and now walks side-by-side with God.'
Tragedy: Michael Wogan, bottom left, pictured with brothers James and Bill (centre and right), who also suffered from disabilities
Young brothers: In this 1991 photo provided by the Wogan family, Michael Wogan, two, right, poses with his brothers, Jonathan, five, left, and Billy, six
The Arizona Republic reported that the elder Wogan lost an eye and some fingers and suffered serious facial injuries.
Loving dad: Michael's father, Bill, was injured in the crash, and is currently listed in serious condition at a nearby hospital
The newspaper said two of Wogan's three brothers also have muscular dystrophy, and the condition drew them close as they shared the same surgeries, doctors, and 24-hour caretakers.
'We liked all the same things. We did everything together. He was my best friend,' James Wogan, 19, the youngest brother, told the Republic.
The news of his death came in a phone call Saturday at 1am, but his brothers had been trying his cell phone for hours, ever since they'd heard about the crash.
'Everybody please pray,' one of the brothers wrote on Facebook.
The Scottsdale, Arizona, family was especially proud when Michael graduated in May magna cum laude with a degree in finance.
The brothers recalled that their mother smiled and whispered to Michael's brothers Billy and James, who are also in wheelchairs, that they could do it too.
Tara La Bouff said he owned a web hosting company and was starting up a social media marketing company.
'He would have made it big but mostly he just wanted to be happy,' James Wogan said. 'I'm going to live my life as he could have lived his life. I'm going to do well.'
Smart: The Wogan brothers in 1996 at their family home
Suited up: Michael and one of his best friends, Matt Burks, pose for a photograph before picking up their prom dates in 2007
Horrific crash: A crater is visible at the Reno air race as first responders and rush to help injured spectators following the crash of a vintage World War II P-51 Mustang fighter plane
Crash zone: Debris from the horrific air crash was scattered about an acre around where the P-51 Mustang went down during the Reno Air Races
Nosedive: The aeroplane approaches the ground right before crashing during the air show in Reno, Nevada
Tribute: A sign is seen at the airport where the Reno Air Races were held with people signing their names for those involved in the tragedy
The news came as investigators comb through wreckage of the World War II-era plane that suddenly spiralled out of control and crashed during the race.
A photograph that emerged Sunday showed a piece of the tail that was missing before the aircraft plummeted to earth.
An aeroplane component has been recovered, but investigators have not been able to identify what it is or even determine if the piece came from the fallen P-51 Mustang aircraft.
'We are going to focus on that,' said Mark Rosekind, National Transportation Safety Board member and spokesman for investigation.
Tim O'Brien of Grass Valley, California, who is chairman of an air show in his hometown and photographed Friday's races, took the picture which shows the part missing.
He said pilot Jimmy Leeward's P-51 was racing six other planes and was in the process of moving from third place into second when it pitched violently upward, rolled and then headed straight down.
From the photos he took, Mr O'Brien said it looked like a piece of the plane's tail called a 'trim tab' had fallen off. He believes that's what caused the plane's sudden climb.
When the aircraft hit the ground, there was a 'big explosion but no fire,' Mr O'Brien said. 'It absolutely disintegrated', he added.
The Aviation Law Monitor said without the trim, the plane may have been uncontrollable.
It reported that that the aircraft may have lost the part because of 'flutter', an aerodynamic phenomenon that can damage a control surface quite suddenly.
An aircraft is at risk of flutter when its airspeed pushes up against or exceeds its design limits, the Aviation Law Monitor reported.
In the race's 47-year history, 20 pilots, including Mr Leeward, have died, officials said.
Three pilots died while racing in the 2007 competition and another was killed during a practice race the next year.
Area of impact: This image shows the VIP seating section where the P-51 Mustang went down in Reno, Nevada
The past deaths have led to on-again-off-again calls for better safety at the races, but it kept growing into a major event in Reno.
Local officials say the races generate tens of millions of dollars for the local economy during the five-day event held every September, and the stakes are high for the pilots.
But critics assail the event as a recipe for the kind of disaster that played out on Friday in front of thousands of people.
Doug Bodine, a pilot who has participated in the Reno race for the last six years, said: 'I think an accident of this nature, it certainly threatens the future of the air races.'
Mr Bodine added: '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.'
About $1million prize money is up for grabs, and a local sports book even took wagers this year on the event.
Huge crash: The World War II-era fighter plane was flown by veteran Hollywood stunt pilot Jimmy Leeward
Evidence: Lori Juhl displays a piece of the wreckage of the P-51 aircraft
Federal investigators were on Saturday sifting through the tarmac where debris had been sprayed by the violent impact of the crash.
Reno police provided a GPS mapping system to offer an overview for investigators to recreate the crash scene.
PLANE'S TAIL PIECES RECOVERED
Officials from the NTSB have identified and collected a key tail piece of the doomed plane that crashed during the Reno Air Races and killed nine people.
The plane impacted on the tarmac like a missile, leaving a 3-foot deep crater with debris scattered for an acre around the site.
From a tour of the site Saturday evening, it appeared that the 1940s-model plane went straight down in the first few rows of VIP box seats, based on the crater's location.
The tail of the plane was found in pieces at the crash site.
Reno police also provided a GPS mapping system to help investigators recreate the crash scene.
'Pictures and video appear to show a piece of the plane was coming off,' NTSB spokesman Mark Rosekind said at a news conference.
'A component has been recovered. We have not identified the component or if it even came from the airplane... We are going to focus on that."
Investigators said they also recovered part of the tail section, where the tab is located.
Pictures and video obtained by the NTSB will be transported to its lab in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
By noon, the runway at the airfield had been mostly swept and was opened for take-offs only, officials said.
On Friday, as thousands watched in horror, the P-51 Mustang suddenly pitched upward, rolled and nose-dived toward the crowded grandstand.
It then slammed into the tarmac and blew to pieces in front the pilot's family and a tight-knit group of friends who attend the annual event.
'It came down directly at us. As I looked down, I saw the spinner, the wings, the canopy just coming right at us. It hit directly in front of us, probably 50 to 75 feet,' Ryan Harris, of Round Mountain, Nevada said, according to MSNBC.
'The next thing I saw was a wall of debris going up in the air. That's what I got splashed with. In the wall of debris noticed there were pieces of flesh.'
From his bed at Northern Nevada Medical Center, spectator Noah Joraanstad told NBC News: 'I mean, I look up and I'm sitting there, like, OK, I'm gonna die, I'm just gonna run. I'm just gonna give it all I got.'
Mr Joraanstad said he was running from the crash, but then got blown off his feet.
He was bleeding from his head and covered in aviation fuel.
Mr Joraanstad, who flies for a commuter airliner in Alaska, said he felt like he was on fire.
Others tried to wash the fuel off him, but it wasn't until he was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital that emergency workers were able to stop the burning sensation.
Mr Joraanstad, 25, was in good condition at the hospital, said spokesman Don Butterfield.
He told the network he had a piece of shrapnel in his back that barely missed his spine and kidney.
Another survivor, 59-year-old Ed Larson, a telecommunications entrepreneur, told how debris from the crash severed his Achilles tendon.
Talking from his hospital bed, Mr Larson, from Genoa, Nevada, said it was surreal watching the vintage plane hurtle toward the seats he was in at a Reno air race.
'The plane was above us to the left and I could see it,' he said. 'You kind of get a feeling, the way I was looking at it, that there's something wrong. It just looked like there was lack of control or something was wrong.'
Within seconds, the P-51 Mustang was headed straight for him.
Desperate escape: Noah Joraanstad points to himself in a video taken at the air race where he was able to avoid serious injury
Lucky to be alive: Noah Joraanstad, a commercial pilot from Alaska, rests as his father Kent stands at his bedside. Noah took a piece of shrapnel in his back during the Reno air crash, but is otherwise in good condition
Survivor: Patient Ed Larson is escorted with his wife, Sherry, left, and nurses at a hospital in Reno, after he sustained injuries in the plane crash
Scars: Mr Larson was hit in the head and knocked unconscious by a piece of flying debris
'A lot of the guys hit the deck,' he said. 'I ran. A second later, the thing crashed right behind me. All I remember is trying to run. I saw stuff coming and that’s the last I remember.'
Shrapnel hit his head, knocking him unconscious, he said. Mr Larson was evacuated on the same military helicopter he had admired in an earlier demonstration at the event.
'It was surrealistic that you'd see something like that,' he said. 'I'm really lucky to be here. It makes you appreciate to be alive.'
Bloodied bodies spread across the area as people tended to the victims and ambulances rushed to the scene.
Video and photos of the crash were captured by several people in the stands, and the horrific images of the wreckage were transmitted around the world within minutes.
'Normally when you see an air crash, you see recognisable wreckage. There was nothing, just little bits of metal,' said John Townes, a Reno pilot.
Prayer: The Reverend Thomas Babu gives a moment of silence for the victims of the Reno Air Races plane crash, during a Sunday service at St. Michael Catholic Church, which is just a few blocks from where the accident happened
Mr Leeward, of Ocala, Florida, was a veteran airman and movie stunt pilot who named his P-51 Mustang fighter plane The Galloping Ghost.
The plane had a minor crash almost exactly 40 years ago in Reno after its engine failed. According to two websites that track P-51s that are still flying, it made a belly landing away from the airport.
The NTSB report on the September 18, 1970, incident says the engine failed during an air race and it crash-landed short of the runway.
P-51 historian Dick Phillips of Burnsville, Minnesota, said on Saturday that the plane had had several new engines since then as well as a new canopy and other modifications.
In a podcast uploaded to YouTube in June, Mr Leeward said major changes were made to the plane before this year's race. He said his crew cut five feet off each wing and shortened the ailerons - the back edge of the main wings used to control balance - to 32 inches, down from about 60 inches.
The goal was to make the plane more aerodynamic so it would go faster without a bigger engine.
'I know the speed. I know it'll do the speed.
The systems aren't proven yet. We think they're going to be OK,' he said.
Pilot: Jimmy Leeward holds a scale model of his P-51 Mustang at his Florida home in 2010. Mr Leeward died when he crashed the plane during the Reno Air Races
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