James Gosling witnesses and blogs Reno airshow crash.

I know this is the internet and everyone (including me) watches every video link to any event, but please seriously consider whether you really want to watch the links people are posting here.<p>Effectively what happens is the plane is being followed by the camera, then when it crashes the camera loses focus for 2s, then refocuses in on a dead body, pans around to a few dead bodies, and zooms out to show you a bunch of bodies and some wreckage. Like Gosling says in his post, there are no flames, no gore, not really even any smoke. What makes it so disturbing is that it's just lifeless bodies, instantly killed... just lifeless, no blood or explosions. I suppose that some of them may be unconscious, but just knowing that Gosling said most were dead or uninjured kind of makes me think otherwise.

Here's the post, since his blog is getting hammered by Reddit right now:<p>I'm alive Friday September 16, 2011<p>Just fucking barely. I'm at the air races in Reno with a bunch of friends and a horrific accident just happened. One of the very high end racers, going about 500 mph, lost control and nose dived straight into the audience. The news is currently saying that the plane missed the grandstand, but that's only technically true: in front of the grandstand there are several rows of box seats. It impacted right in the middle of them. I was in a box seat with my friends only 50 feet from the impact. I was watching the plane as it lost control, so I saw the whole thing. The impact happened so fast, there was hardly any sound: just one huge shock wave. No fireball. The plane, and many people, disintegrated instantly, right in front of me. There were bodies everywhere. No crash you've ever seen in a movie is even remotely authentic.<p>Update: it's already on YouTube. I was in the middle of the dust cloud you see around the impact. They're saying "30 serious injuries" but I know that's a long way from the truth. At least that many died instantly in the impact. I suspect that there were not a huge number of serious injuries. It was not a small airplane. You either died or you didn't. I didn't. My brother and I are still shaking.<p>Another Update: They're now officially calling it a "mass casualty situation". The plane was Galloping Ghost, piloted by Jimmy Leeward. It was a very cool, highly modified, P51 mustang with a very unusual approach to engine cooling. I doubt that this was at all connected to the accident - it looked like a control system failure.

As a counterpoint to the various people arguing that we shouldn't see this, that you shouldn't watch the video, etc., I want to argue that the modern US aversion to contemplating death has become pathological. Death is the one unavoidable fact about life, the only thing you are guaranteed to do, and the sooner and more deeply a person understands that, the better. It's difficult, it's unpleasant, but it's necessary.<p>Ten of the traditional forty subjects of Buddhist meditation are the <i>asubha</i>, the "repulsive subjects", corpses in different states. Meditating on these is intended to help you come to terms with your own mortal nature, and to prevent you from coming to worship things of the body as if they deserved it. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamma%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADh%C4%81na#Forty_meditation_subjects" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamma%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADh%C4%81n...</a><p>In many Buddhist areas of the world, you can buy sets of cards with images of all forty, to be used as a meditation aid. (It's easier to hold your attention on a subject when you're looking at a picture of it.) Imagine the righteous indignation of the preserve-your-ignorance squad here if such a thing were to be displayed.

Here's the whole video (it happens about 39 minutes in.) Please note it's somewhat disturbing:<p><a href="http://www.livestream.com/loadedtv/video?clipId=pla_b2efcd7d-ed04-4edf-89e8-f21ff436ccb4" rel="nofollow">http://www.livestream.com/loadedtv/video?clipId=pla_b2efcd7d...</a><p>This is really tragic.

This is the fourth fatal air show accident/crash I've seen in less than a month:<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/21/us-kansas-airshow-crash-idUSTRE77K04T20110821" rel="nofollow">http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/21/us-kansas-airshow-...</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14602900" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14602900</a> <a href="http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/homepage_showcase/accident-at-selfridge-air-show" rel="nofollow">http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/homepage_showcase/accident-at-selfri...</a>

My wife and I had air race tickets for tomorrow and Sunday right in that general area. They were box seats. That (likely) malfunction in Galloping Ghost could have happened when we were there, so we're counting our blessings tonight. But we feel awful for those involved. As stupid as these races seem, everyone loves them here. Part of me hopes they can continue.

for those not wishing to see the videos (I'm in that group) here's two photos showing exactly what happened minus the gore<p>immediately prior: <a href="http://imgur.com/QuAnm" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/QuAnm</a><p>impact: <a href="http://imgur.com/CcS91" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/CcS91</a>

Here is a clear version of the youtube video. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybgd0EfxWCI" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybgd0EfxWCI</a>

I'm never watching any videos of this nature. Life is too precious to glorify losing. I'm weep for all those involved in this tragedy.

This is disaster porn. You can't learn from it. It is just to see what it looks like when an airshow goes horribly wrong.

The youtube video linked on his story has been removed by Youtube for "content violations". <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNePeKn3Tg&#38;feature=player_embedded" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNePeKn3Tg&#38;feature=playe...</a>

pretty bad, but could have been a lot worse.<p>i.e. like the Sknyliv disaster(really recommend not watching the video of that one)

An article about the plane and the pilot:<p><a href="http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20110917/NEWS01/109170334" rel="nofollow">http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20110917/NEWS01/10917033...</a>

Terrible tragedy.<p><a href="http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=J7&#38;Dato=20110916&#38;Kategori=EVENTS05&#38;Lopenr=109160802&#38;Ref=PH" rel="nofollow">http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=J7&#38;Dato=20...</a><p>Photo 7 is very peculiar. The pilot is not visible. I am familiar with this cockpit, and there is no where to go backwards, so he must be all the way forwards out of view.<p>In photo 38, you can see how visible he is when taxiing out.<p>Just absolutely terrible. My thoughts are with all involved.