Witnesses hail pilot of crashed plane for saving lives of hundreds

Jimmy Leeward, 74, an air racer and movie stunt pilot, died in the crash after apparently losing control of the vintage fighter plane, which spiraled into a box seat area at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada. Leeward and at least eight others were killed and dozens were injured.

“I closed my eyes and said, ‘I am going to die now.’ I was literally preparing to die and then he jerked the plane away and it landed like 25 feet from us. I want his family to know he was a hero,” Kim Fonda told the Daily Mail, recalling seeing the plane streak toward where she was seated at the grandstand.

“I think that pilot in the last seconds pulled up because he saw the bleachers and saved about 200 or 300 others,” Ben Cissell was quoted as saying by CNN. The plane crashed about 100 feet from where he was seated.

Friends and family members of Leeward said he was a skilled airman and member of a tight-knit flying community.

Family members were at the air show and saw the crash, said Reno Air Races President and CEO Mike Hought

“They obviously are devastated,” he said. “I talked to Jimmy’s son and his wife wanted me to know that Jimmy would not want us to cancel the races but sometimes you have to do things that are not very popular.”

Leeward’s pilot’s medical records were up-to-date, and he was “a very qualified, very experienced pilot,” Houghton said. He’d been racing at the show in Reno since 1975.

“Everybody knows him. It’s a tight-knit family,” Houghton said. “He’s been here for a long, long time.”

Leeward gave an interview at the air show Thursday with Live Airshow TV, standing in front of his plane, The Galloping Ghost, and saying he didn’t want to show his hand on how fast the plane could go.

”We’ve been playing poker since last Monday. And ... it’s ready, we’re ready to show a couple more cards, so we’ll see on Friday what happens, and on Saturday we’ll probably go ahead and play our third ace, and on Sunday we’ll do our fourth ace,” Leeward said in the interview.

Leeward owned the Leeward Air Ranch Racing Team and was a well-known racing pilot. His website says he had flown more than 120 races and served as a stunt pilot for numerous movies, including “Amelia” and “Cloud Dancer.”

The vintage plane raced in the “Unlimited” category, where the planes race wingtip-to-wingtip at speeds in excess of 800 kph.

“How fast will she go? Hold on tight, you’ll find out soon enough. Reno Air Races 2011 ...” said a teaser on Leeward’s website.

A post on his Facebook page Friday afternoon said “Jimmy is starting up right now” and posted a link to live video of the airshow. As news of Leeward’s death spread, Facebook users posted comments and condolences on the post.

Steve Silver, 69, was Leeward’s next-door neighbor at a gated community in Ocala, Florida.

“He’s been my friend for many years,” Silver said. “He was more than a competent pilot. He was really quite a guy.”

Given Leeward’s experience with flying, Silver said he doubts pilot error was the cause of the crash.

“It would be my bet there was some kind of mechanical malfunction,” Silver said.

Maureen Higgins, of Alabama, said Leeward was the best pilot she knew. She was at the air show and said she could see his profile while the plane was going down. He was married and his wife often traveled with him.

“He’s a wonderful pilot, not a risk taker,” she said. “He was in the third lap and all of a sudden he lost control.” (From news reports)