Vintage British Hakwer Hunter jet crashes near end of show

I was at the airshow yesterday (7/15), and was out of town by the time this happened:

katu.com/stories/87628.html

The British Hawker Hunter fighter jet lost power for unknown reasons. “It was doing a loop and couldn’t pull out in time,” a witness told the media. “It clipped about three houses and went down.”

HILLSBORO, Ore. - A plane participating in an air show crashed into a residential neighborhood near the Hillsboro Airport, setting at least two homes on fire.

Connie King, a spokeswoman for the Hillsboro Fire Department, said three homes were hit, but she did not know if there were any injuries.

The crash happened toward the end of the two-day Hillsboro Air Show.

Witness Kory Hauser said the plane, an older model jet, went down about 4:30 p.m. about a mile and a half from the airport, the Salem Statesman Journal reported.

“It was doing a loop and couldn’t pull out in time,” he told the paper. “It clipped about three houses and went down.”

The air show was immediately canceled and Hauser said the streets in that section of Hillsboro were in gridlock.

Another witness, Josh Boer, told a Portland TV station that a house “literally exploded” when the plane hit and sent out a fire bomb that lit two other homes on fire.

Sad and unfortunate.
I was just recently reading this accident report of a Hawker Hunter fatal crash here in Manchester back in 1998.
here

The pilot was Robert Guilford, instrument rated commercial pilot with over 4000 hours in the air. He was also the only FAA Authorized Instructor for this aircraft type. He was also an Authorized Instructor for the Soko Galeb, F4U Corsair, Skyraider, Sea Fury, P-51 Mustang, T-28 and Spitfire.

Eyewitnesses reported he was attempting to land in a field while also trying to avoid overflying a shopping complex and grocery store after losing power.

Sounds very similar to the accident report I read. Very experienced pilot, crashed while attempting to avoid people and property on the ground after losing power.
I’d be interested in hearing what happened in this most recent crash.

From the report:
According to the pilot’s civilian logbook, he had flown over 230 sorties, and 240 flight hours in the Hunter. On his February 1997 application for a Second Class Medical Certificate, he stated that he had 4,500 hours of civilian flight time. His military flight time was not provided by the U.S. Air Force. However, his biography stated that he had over 8,500 hours of total military and civilian flight time, with over 3,500 hours in military fighters. It also stated that he had flown for Northern Lights Aircraft, Incorporated, and in that role, flew the Hunter in “stunts for cinematography, air displays, test work, and instructing test pilots in out-of-control/spin recovery and prevention procedures at the Navy Test Pilot School…” It went on to state that he was also “fully mission capable and qualified in the F-16.”

Some pictures and other comments from people who were there can be found here.

Reminds me of when we lost Steve and the F86!

Always sad to lose both a classic aircraft as well as a classic pilot.

Shame you never got that ride in the Pinto.

I was jus thinking about that this afternoon. Didnt realize how rare the Super Pinto was either. Actually found an article about the airplane that mentioned Steve, apparently the author took a ride with another guy in Steve’s plane.

Shouldn’t this be in the “Aviation News” forum? Just wondering.

More than likely.