Former Keller councilman, 67, among 6 victims of midair collision at Dallas air show

A retired American Airlines pilot who previously served on the Keller city council was among six people who died Saturday when two World War II-era planes collided in midair at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at the Dallas Executive Airport.

In 2001, Terry Barker described to a reporter his 10-year pursuit to build an aerobatic biplane in his spare time.

“Somebody said it’s like a postman taking a walk on his day off,” he said. “But I’m very lucky because I get paid for doing what I enjoy. At work, everybody likes a nice, smooth ride. But I still like going upside down. It’s just a feeling I’ve never gotten over, that free and independent opportunity to go out and fly.”

National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Sunday collected air traffic control audio recordings and photographed the wreckage with a drone and from the ground. They also began to interview the other formation crews and airshow operations personnel.

The investigators planned to review pilot training and aircraft maintenance records for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Bell P-63 Kingcobra.

At a press conference Sunday, NTSB board member Michael Graham said a preliminary report is expected to be released in four to six weeks, and the full investigation will take a year or more to complete.

“This is the beginning of a long process,” Graham said. “We will not jump to any conclusions.”

Neither plane was equipped with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, so photographs and video of the collision and air traffic control recordings are expected to be critical to the investigation, he said. Neither recorder is required for the aircraft involved in the collision. Members of the public who have video and photos can email them to witness@ntsb.gov.

Barker, an Army veteran who flew helicopters during his military service and worked for American Airlines for 36 years, was 67. He decided in 2003 not to seek re-election after two terms in Place 5 on the Keller city council.

Keller Mayor Armin Mizani wrote in a Facebook post of turning to Barker for counsel.

“Terry Barker was beloved by many. He was a friend and someone whose guidance I often sought. Even after retiring from serving on the City Council and flying for American Airlines, his love for community was unmistakable,” Mizani wrote.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the planes collided and crashed to the ground about 1:20 p.m.

Both planes were owned and operated by the Commemorative Air Force, which hosted the Veterans Day weekend air show. Officials said the B-17 had a crew of five people, and the Kingcobra was flown by a single pilot.

The victims

The Allied Pilots Association wrote in a tweet Saturday night that two of its former members were killed on board the B-17. The pilots association, which is the union that represents American Airlines pilots, identified the crew members as Barker and Len Root, who retired in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

“Our hearts go out to their families, friends, and colleagues past and present,” the tweet read.

According to a LinkedIn profile, Root, 66, lived in the Keller area and had worked as a pilot and manager for the Gulf Coast Wing of the Commemorative Air Force since October 2021. He previously worked for American Airlines for 35 years as a flight director and flight management system program controller.

In a Facebook post friend Dave Lesher said that Root was an extraordinary man.

“Len tragically died doing what he loved; flying a warbird in an airshow,” Lesher wrote. ‘To say you will be missed is the world’s biggest understatement, my friend. You are loved, and we are all better for having known you.”

Curtis Rowe, a major in the Ohio Wing of the Civil Air Patrol from Hilliard, Ohio, also died on board the B-17. He had served with the organization for more than 30 years and had a passion for flying, according to a statement from the Air Patrol.

“Curt touched the lives of thousands of his fellow Civil Air Patrol members, especially when flying cadets during hundreds of orientation flights over the course of his service,” Col. Pete Bowden, commander of the Air Patrol, said in the statement.

Rowe was a crew chief on the B-17, his brother-in-law Andy Keller told The Associated Press on Sunday. Rowe did air shows several times a year because he fell in love with WWII aircraft, Keller said.

Family members confirmed to KDFW-TV that Craig Hutain, who lived in the Houston area, was flying the P-63 Kingcobra.

Hutain, 63, was a pilot for United Airlines and had planned to retire in a few years, according to KDFW.

“From my behalf, it’s an honor and a privilege to fly this airplane,” Hutain said in a July video interview with Vintage Aviation News, while standing in front of a P-63F. “I’ve always been a pilot. I’ve been able to fly a J-3 with a pillow under my rear end and behind my back. It’s really a life-long obsession for me.”

Hutain began flying with the Commemorative Air Force and Tora Tora Tora airshows, a reenactment of the invasion of Pearl Harbor, in 2009, according to the airshow website.

The other two victims have not yet been identified.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins confirmed the deaths in a tweet Sunday morning.

“According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there are a total of 6 fatalities from yesterday’s Wings over Dallas air show incident,” Jenkins tweeted. “Authorities will continue working today on the investigation & identification of the deceased. Please pray for their families and all involved.”

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said there were no reports of injuries to spectators or other people on the ground.

Videos taken by witnesses and posted to social media appear to show the smaller fighter plane hit the back of the B-17 bomber as the P-63 made a turn. The planes broke apart as they fell to the ground, followed by a fiery explosion and clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky.

The Dallas Executive Airport is in the 5300 block of Challenger Drive near U.S. Highway 67 in Redbird, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Dallas. The debris field from the crash extended from the airport grounds to U.S. 67 and a nearby strip mall, Johnson wrote in a tweet.

What is the Commemorative Air Force?

Commemorative Air Force spokesperson Leah Block said both of the rare, vintage military planes came from Houston. A Facebook page about the plane identified the B-17 as the one named Texas Raiders, which the Commemorative Air Force website calls “one of the most recognized and popular warbirds.” Out of the 12,731 B-17s built by the U.S., it was one of only five that were still flying, according to the website.

At a press conference Saturday, Commemorative Air Force President and CEO Hank Coates said the organization, which is dedicated to preserving World War II planes and has been based in Dallas since 2014, has more than 12,000 volunteer members and more than 180 aircraft.

“It’s difficult for me to talk about it because I know all of these people,” Coates said. “These are family and good friends.”

The crew are volunteers who are vetted carefully and trained thoroughly, he said, and many of them are retired military or airline pilots with decades of experience. He said the aircraft are “very well-maintained.”

“The maneuvers that they were going through were not dynamic at all,” Coates said. “It was what we call bombers on parade.”

The B-17, a cornerstone of U.S. air power during World War II, is an immense four-engine bomber used in daylight raids against Germany. The Kingcobra, a U.S. fighter plane, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war. Most B-17s were scrapped at the end of World War II and only a handful remain today, largely featured at museums and air shows, according to Boeing.

Block said there were about 4,000 spectators at the event, and the collision occurred farther down the flight line, so it wasn’t directly in front of the crowd.

Block told reporters that nothing like this has happened during the 14 years she’s been with the Commemorative Air Force. This was the seventh year the show had been held in Dallas.

Air show safety

Saturday’s crash came three years after the crash of a bomber in Connecticut that killed seven, and amid ongoing concern about the safety of air shows involving older warplanes.

The Commemorative Air Force has had other crashes in its more than 60-year history, The Associated Press reported, including a deadly 1995 crash near Odessa, Texas, involving a B-26 bomber that killed five crew members, according to an NTSB report. The plane crashed while practicing for an air show. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the 1995 crash was the failure of the pilot to maintain minimum airspeed for flight.

In 2001, two separate West Texas crashes involving planes owned by the group — one in April and one in May — killed three people. In June 2005, two people were killed when a single-engine plane owned by the group crashed in Williamson, Georgia.

Air shows must obtain special waivers from the FAA and all of the pilots have to demonstrate their skills in low flying and other maneuvers used in air shows, said John Cox, a former airline captain with more than 50 years’ experience. Cox is also founder of Safety Operating Systems, a company that helps smaller airlines and corporate flight services from around the world with safety planning.

Each air show is overseen by an “air boss” who serves as the flight controller for the event, Cox said.

“If there’s any adjustments that have to be made, it’s the air boss that makes those calls and the pilots comply with that,” he said. In addition, any pilot with a mechanical problem would announce it to the air boss, he said.

Air shows typically rely on extremely detailed plans, including contingencies for emergencies, Cox said. For example, any pilot who ran into trouble could break out of formation and go to a designated area free of other planes that is identified by a landmark of some kind.

Arthur Alan Wolk is a Philadelphia aviation attorney who flew in air shows for 12 years. After watching the air show video and hearing the maneuvers described as “bombers on parade,” Wolk told The Associated Press on Sunday that the P-63 pilot violated the basic rule of formation flying.

“He went belly up to the leader,” Wolk said. “That prevents him from gauging distance and position. The risk of collision is very high when you cannot see who you are supposed to be in formation with and that kind of joinup is not permitted.”

He added, “I am not blaming anyone and to the greatest extent possible, air shows, the pilots and the aircraft that fly in them are safe. Air shows are one of the largest spectator events in America and it is rare that a tragedy like this occurs.”

Wolk said it takes extensive training and discipline to fly in an air show setting. The air show qualifications of the P-63 pilot are not known.

Star-Telegram staff writer Harriet Ramos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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