Ramstein airshow disaster
The
Ramstein airshow disaster is one of the world's worst
airshow disasters. It occurred in front of an audience of 300,000 people on
August 28,
1988 at the
US Ramstein Air Base airshow
Flugtag '88 (
Ramstein, county of
Kaiserslautern,
Germany). Three of the ten
Aermacchi MB-339PAN jets from the
Italian Air Force display team,
Frecce Tricolori, collided in mid-air in front of the audience while performing their 'pierced heart' (a.k.a. cardioid) formation. One aircraft crashed directly into the crowd [
1]. Sixty-seven spectators as well as all three pilots were killed and 346 were seriously injured in the resulting explosion and fire.
|
The standby MEDEVAC helicopter after being hit by one of the aircraft |
In the 'pierced heart' formation two groups of aircraft create a heartshape in front of the audience. The heart is then pierced in the direction towards the audience by a lone aircraft. The accident was caused by
pilot error as the piercing aircraft came in too fast, too soon and too low, resulting in it hitting the two groups just completing the heart formation at an altitude of less than 40 meters. See the images just
before and just
after the collision. It is suspected that the pilot of the piercing aircraft attempted to correct his position by extracting the
landing gear. The excessively low altitude of the piercing aircraft meant that it could have collided with the
control tower, had it not collided with the other aircraft. Unfortunately, the piercing aircraft crashed into an
ice cream truck placed in the crowd, where a lot of people were lining up on the hot summer day. The tumbling aircraft spread
aviation fuel and the resulting fire in the crowd was intense. At the same time, one of the damaged aircraft from the heart-forming group carried on for a bit along the runway and crashed into the
emergency medical evacuation Black Hawk helicopter, killing its
flight crew. This medical asset had been placed on what was thought to be a safe distance from the runway to be available in case of an accident. The pilot of this aircraft was the only one who had time to
eject, but he was killed as he hit the runway without his
parachute opening. After the crash the remaining group had to circle the airbase in
missing man formation until they were told to land at
Sembach Air Base.There were many children among the victims with 16 of the fatalities occurring in the days and weeks after the disaster due to
severe burns. In total about 1,000 people had to seek hospital treatment following the event.
|
The airshow disaster memorial with the names of the victims |
Treatment of
PTSD and accompanying
suicidal tendencies among the affected were and still is a significant task for the authorities. The victims are also receiving financial compensation for event. The disaster resulted in a total ban of public airshows in
West Germany, which was lifted three years later and replaced with the following safety regulations:
* Increased minimum height and distance from spectators. A picture of the previous airshow in 1987 revealed that there were no safety barriers near the runways; existing rules prescribed a distance of 400 meters (approx. 1300 feet) according to the aircraft types.
* Banning of maneuvers in the direction of spectators
* All maneuvers subject to approval by authoritiesRamstein Air Base itself has not held an airshow since the incident.
*The similar German word "ramm" used as a verb "rammen" translates into "to ram (into)". The other part of "-stein" translates into "-stone". Therefore the location is often misspelled as "Rammstein".
*The German
tanz-metall band
Rammstein is named after the disaster. The final track on their
1995 Herzeleid album is also named
Rammstein. The lyrics to the song graphically describe the events of the disaster.
*
Crash moment video Italian commentary
*
Crash moment pictures*
Picture sequence Graphic content!
*
Research report on
PTSD following the event.
* Survivor websites
**
Blog of USAF Officer based at Ramstein AB at the time of the accident.
**
Blog of Roland Fuchs who lost his family in the disaster.
**
Support group for the victims**
Ramstein disaster memorial website**
Account of the disaster by USAF servicewoman
