Walt Rubel Commentary: Easy for viewers to forget the danger

The Air and Space Expo at the Las Cruces International Airport was one of the most entertaining shows I’ve seen in years.

I hadn’t been to an air show since I was a kid, and was surprised to feel the exact same thrill now as I had then watching an airplane nosedive toward the ground, only to pull up at the last second and gracefully loop back into the sky.

There is a mixture of artistry and technical precision that combine to create both an exciting and beautiful viewing experience, even if you do have to spend a lot of time with your head tilted all the way back looking straight up. There really isn’t anything else like it.

I left Saturday thinking this could have huge potential for our community in the future. Ours was the only air show in the country this year, according to announcers at the event.

Reno, Nevada has been the hub for air shows and air races ever since the first air races were held there in 1964. Each year, thousands of aviation enthusiasts have flocked to northern Nevada for the event.

But now the Reno Air Racing Association is looking for a new home for the annual event. And, in 2025 the National Championship Air Races will be held in Roswell, which beat finalists Pueblo, Colorado and Casper, Wyoming for the honor. This could be an economic boon for southern New Mexico, I thought.

Then I read that on Sunday stunt pilot Chuck Coleman was killed in a crash while performing a routine he had undoubtedly done hundreds of times before at air shows around the country. Spectators watched in horror as his plane did not pull up at the last second, but instead nosedived into the ground. 

Watching two airplanes cross within feet of each other while traveling well over 100 mph is truly impressive the first time you see it. But after a while, it starts to look routine. The music, the festive atmosphere and the expertise of the pilots make it easy to forget about the risk.

Coleman was a pilot and engineer who had logged more than 10,000 hours of flight time and performed in hundreds of air shows, He was one of five engineers who designed and built the first jet powered aircraft to fly around the world nonstop without refueling. 

He was the flight instructor for actors in the movie Top Gun: Maverick, making 140 flights to familiarize them with the Navy F-18 Hornets seen in the movie.

All of which is to say that while the stunts may have seemed routine to me, I’m certain they never did to him. 

I’m not sure what this means for the future of our air show. Crashes happen. There have been 24 pilots killed during the Reno Air Races, including two in 2023. A crash near the stands in 2011 also killed 10 spectators and injured 69. The races have always gone on.

They didn’t stop racing cars after Dale Earnhardt crashed. They didn’t stop riding bulls after Lane Frost got gored. And they aren’t going to stop racing airplanes and performing stunts. I suppose danger is part of the appeal for both spectators and participants.

I’m just glad that we decided to go to the Saturday show and I wasn’t there Sunday.


Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected].

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