Wing Snaps On T-34…
A Texas air-combat simulation and upset-recovery training center has temporarily suspended operations after losing a second aircraft in just over a year to an apparent wing separation. The Texas Air Aces T-34 went down Tuesday about three miles from where a similar aircraft crashed on Nov. 19, 2003. In both crashes, the two people aboard the aircraft were killed. And in both tragedies, witnesses reported seeing one of the wings snap off before the aircraft spiraled into the ground near Lake Conroe. The most recent crash killed pilot Richard Gillenwaters, 51, of Conroe, and passenger Tietro Migliori, of Venezuela. The area of the crash is routinely used by Texas Air Aces for its popular mock combat flights and aerobatic training although it’s unclear what, if any, maneuvers the plane was doing at the time. Last year, a wing came off a T-34 piloted by company president Don Wylie while he was engaged in mock combat with another Texas Air Aces plane.
