The families of two men who died in a helicopter crash at the nation’s largest air show are suing the host organization, claiming an unsafe culture led to the mid-air collision and their deaths.
The July 22 complaint is against the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), an international aviation organization based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which hosts largest air show in the nation, AirVenture.
The annual event held every July typically draws more than 600,000 people from all over the world and more than 10,000 mostly homebuilt or modified aircraft, including ultralights, rotorcrafts and vintage military planes, at the Wittman Regional Airport.
Last year, the festival brought in $170 million for five counties in the Oshkosh region, according to the EAA.
Critics like Dan Gryder, retired Delta Air Lines pilot, DB Cooper expert and creator of the YouTube channel Probable Cause who consulted on the lawsuit, said the organization has a long history of not adhering to standard Federal Aviation Administration rules, which are at the crux of the lawsuit.
The incident in question stems back to the 2023 event, when a helicopter piloted by 69-year-old Mark Peterson of Foley, Alabama, and his passenger, 72-year-old Air Force veteran and pilot Thomas Volz, was hit by a gyrocopter mid-air while flying in pattern above spectators.
The pilot of the gyrocopter, Eric Duane Bruce, made a steep 360-degree turn into the path of the helicopter, damaging its rotor blades and causing both aircraft to plummet 250 feet to the ground.
The helicopter hit upside down and burst into flames, killing both Peterson and Volz.
The gyroplane hit a parked, unoccupied airplane as it careened to the ground. Bruce and his passenger were seriously hurt but survived the crash.
The final National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report declared the cause of the midair collision to be Bruce’s fault for failing to see the helicopter while performing the maneuver in the traffic pattern, but there were no FAA regulations in place to prohibit it.
The lawsuit alleging five counts of negligence and liability for an undetermined amount of compensatory damages and legal fees. It was filed by the widows and estates of the two men against Bruce, his affiliated companies as well as the EAA, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
“This is pointing to the negligence of the management of EAA, the organization,” Gryder said. “This is management-induced death and the first time a lawsuit was brought against the EAA for causing the unsafe environment which caused the death.”
The EAA did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
Accident Waiting To Happen
Gryder has been a longstanding critic on what he calls the “cowboy culture” at the EAA’s annual show and its inability to clearly define and enforce its rules.
He said the lack of oversight has created an unsafe culture where far too many people are getting hurt.
“They have created an unsafe environment that causes deaths,” he said.
The EAA was founded in 1953 by Paul Poberezny, a friend of Gryder, with the first fly-in convention held that year.
Gryder has been a regular attendee at the event until his run-in with organizers in 2021, when he filmed an EAA crew drinking beer as they towed his plane from the runway where staff had misdirected him, and he subsequently got stuck.
This got him banned from the event and all EAA grounds, which he said has no bearing on his consulting role on the lawsuit that he says is about instilling safety precautions to stop pilots from being killed.
150 Accidents
As Gryder notes, AirVenture has a long history of accidents and deaths.
Since 1974, there have been 130 accidents at the annual event and at least 30 fatal crashes, according to NTSB data.
Every year, including this one, there are accidents and deaths, Gryder said.
This year, two men were killed July 22 in a plane crash south of the Wittman Regional Airport with the cause of the crash still pending.
All of this is largely avoidable if the FAA would adhere to its guidelines and enforce the rules during the busy festival, Gryder said. The trouble is, the rules are not clear nor are they being enforced, which he said is creating an unsafe flying space.
During the event, Oshkosh becomes the world’s busiest airport with up to 150 takeoffs and landing per hour. This level of air traffic relies on pilot competence and proficiency as well as strategic planning on behalf of the FAA.
Outside of the festival, all operations at the airport fall under FAA guidelines for Class D airports.
As part of the airshow, the EAA is granted specific waivers to existing rules by the FAA to accommodate the volume of aircraft and various events throughout the week.
For example, ultralight and homebuilt helicopters are authorized to arrive and depart by calling a private phone number staffed by EAA personnel instead of the typical FAA guidelines dictating mandatory radio contact with air traffic control, as noted in court documents filed in the lawsuit.
Likewise, ultralight aircraft, which are typically prohibited from operating in Class D airspace under FAA guidelines, are permitted to fly in that space during the show.
All of the show-specific guidelines for pre-flight planning, arrival and department procedures for all categories of aircraft flying into the Oshkosh airport are outlined for pilots in a 30-page Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM.
The trouble is, as stated in the lawsuit, the EAA seems to have declared a blanket waiver regarding basic operational rules that the plaintiffs claim was “made possible as a result of FAA policy work internally,” according to a 2018 statement by the organization, that do not appear anywhere in writing or in the NOTAM.
Also, Lack Of Rules
At the crux of the lawsuit is the Fun Fly Zone/FFZ airfield, a flying space created by the EAA for ultralight and homebuilt aircraft and rotorcraft within the boundaries of the Class D airspace surrounding the airport.
According to the lawsuit, the EAA has set non-enforceable rules for the airfield and traffic space without FAA authorization.
Information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request turned up no proof of exemptions or waivers other than take-off and landing procedures, as well as rules for flying in traffic patterns for ultralights and homebuilt rotorcraft, including gyrocopters, according to documents filed in the lawsuit.
“The EAA’s so-called ‘Fun Fly Zone’ is entirely a construct of the EAA established without authorization from the FAA, which has the duty of controlling air traffic except as changed by waiver or authorization,” the lawsuit states.
This includes improperly creating its own air traffic notes that are unsafe, like allowing helicopters and gyrocopters to fly simultaneously in the same traffic pattern that creates a “dangerous situation and unreasonable risk of harm.”
The lawsuit further states that the EAA has failed to adopt sufficient flight safety rules for pilots, passengers and the general public in attendance, including not providing proper and sufficient air traffic control during the event.
It also accuses the EAA of failing to enforce the rules for pilots, which would have potentially made a difference in this case had Bruce been reprimanded the first time he conducted a 360-degree “hot dog” maneuver for which no action has yet to be taken by the EAA.
The FAA has the authority to reprimand pilots, called “Brasher warnings,” which are the aviation equivalent of traffic violations. When air traffic controllers notice a pilot’s mistake, they are instructed to call a phone number to start the process of an investigation into that pilot’s particular action.
If found out of compliance, a pilot might have his license suspended for a given period, Gryder said.
In this instance, that may have prevented Bruce from flying in the air pattern the following day in which he again disregarded warnings and performed the non-compliant 360-degree turn that led to the mid-air collision, his third one in as many days.
To Gryder, the most egregious violation by the EAA is the fact that the “Fun Fly Zone” exists in the first place. He firmly believes that both Peterson and Volz would be alive if the EAA had been in compliance with FAA guidelines.
Gryder heard about the crash as he was leaving the event in 2023 after personally witnessing the aerial “cowboy rides” himself.
“It was inevitable,” he said.
And though he’s not a fan of lawsuits, he said in instances like this one it may be the only way to effect policy changes that promote pilot and spectator safety.
“The EAA has never been sued for negligence for an aviation accident,” he said. “It’s time to hold them accountable.”
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
