Air Force Accused Of Stonewalling Crash Information Request

The family of airshow pilot Eddy Andreini has launched a second lawsuit against the Air Force over Andreini's death at the Thunder Over Solano Air Show at Travis Air Force Base in California last May. The family is alleging the Air Force is stonewalling Freedom of Information Act requests for the base fire department records on the day of the crash, along with other documents. As we reported earlier, Andreini burned to death after he crashed inverted on the field during a cut-the-ribbon attempt during the show. The family is claiming the base's fire response is to blame for his death and the many spectator videos show it took about four minutes for fire trucks to arrive. The aircraft was mostly consumed by then.

In its claim (PDF), the family says it has had numerous email exchanges with various Air Force officials since the original request for information on May 23. Under normal circumstances, a Freedom of Information Act request is supposed to be dealt with in 20 days but by Oct. 1 more than four months had passed and the family filed suit. According to the claim, successive Air Force officials have offered varied explanations for the delay but the family says it has run out of patience.