Airplane News

6 people die in crash at military airshow at Dallas Executive Airport

One plane hit another at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport.

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Six people died in an airplane crash at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in south Dallas on November 12.

Described as a chance to "re-live history," the show featured vintage World War II planes in air. The crash made national news and was photographed and recorded by a number of spectators.

The two planes that crashed were a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and a small Bell P-63 Kingcobra. According to Airlive.net, the P-63 took a wide turn which would have prevented its pilot from seeing the B-17.

Both planes were owned by the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) and based in Houston. According to CNN, hundreds of spectators watched as the planes collided, then burst into a fireball on the grounds of Dallas Executive Airport.

CAF president Hank Coates said that the pilots at CAF airshows are volunteers, many airline pilots, retired airline pilots, or retired military pilots, and said the aircraft were safe and well-maintained.

Two of the victims were from Keller: Len Root, who worked as a contract commercial pilot; andand Terry Barker, an Army veteran and pilot for American Airlines for 36 years.

Barker was also a former city council member for Keller, according to Keller Mayor Armin Mizani, who said on Twitter that "I was fortunate to have him as a friend, and his guidance when it came to what was best for our residents never steered me wrong."

Other casualties included Major Curtis Rowe, a veteran pilot, who volunteered to be a crew member on the B-17, and according to Fox 4, Houston-based pilot Craig Hutain, who was flying the P-63 Kingcobra. Hutain flew for United Airlines and was planning on retiring in a few years.

Kevin “K5” Michels and Dan Ragan were the other two men who died.

The NTSB will issue a preliminary report in four to six weeks, although spokesman Michael Graham said a full investigation could take more than a year. They're urging anyone with video or pictures to send them to witness@ntsb.gov.

“They’ll actually be very critical since we don’t have any flight data recorder data or cockpit voice recorders or anything like that,” Graham said. “They’ll be very critical to analyze the collision and also tie that in with the aircraft control recordings to determine why the two aircraft collided and to determine, basically, the how and why this accident happened and then eventually, hopefully, maybe make some safety recommendations to prevent it from happening in the future."

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Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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