FAA, NTSB investigating deadly Madras air show crash

A skilled aerobatic pilot from Anchorage, Alaska died when his biplane crashed during an initial loop shortly after takeoff at the Aishow of the Cascades at Madras Airport on Saturday afternoon, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins confirmed.

Adkins said Marcus Bruce Paine, 61, was at the controls of the Stearman biplane when the crash occurred during the second day of the two-day air show.

“The FAA was at the air show and will be conducting a thorough investigation of the crash,” Adkins said. “The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating the crash, with the assistance of the Madras Police Department.”

FAA Pacific Division Public Affairs Manager Ian Gregor said Sunday two FAA inspectors were at the airport, observing the airshow, “and began actively investigating the accident immediately.”

“The inspectors tell us nobody on the ground was injured,” Gregor said, adding that the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, as they do all plane incidents.

Air show spectators watched in shock and dismay as the exhibition turned tragically wrong on a warm, blue-sky day in Madras. Their photos and videos showed the smoke trail of a giant looping maneuver, followed a dark plume of smoke rising from the airfield as first responders rushed to the scene.

Air show officials and fellow pilots were among the many devastated by the loss.

“It is with heavy hearts that the Airshow of the Cascades announces the loss of a talented aerobatic performer, Marcus Paine,” Don Mobley, the air show’s performers’ coordinator, told reporters at a news briefing Saturday evening.

“The whole air show community appreciates your thoughts and prayers during this time, and we respectfully ask that you give Mr. Paine’s family privacy during this difficult time,” Mobley added.

Paine had done this particular maneuver many times in the past, including Friday’s Madras performance. The Madras Airport’s main runway remained closed for the investigation.

The air show’s website profile said, “Marcus Paine brings the thrill of aerobatic flight from his hometown of Anchorage, where he has lived for more than 40 years.

“Raised on a homestead in Rabbit Creek, Marc has been a pilot for over 20 years and is a skilled instructor – teaching pilots of all skill levels new ways of thinking about the principles of flight.

“He is also a distinguished graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and a former U.S. Army Special Forces Officer, Airborne Ranger, and Jumpmaster. He commanded a combat dive A Team and worked projects throughout the Middle East and South America,” it noted.

The Alaska Air Show website profile said Paine’s flight school teaches “unusual attitude recovery, stall/spin awareness and aerobatic flight.”

FAA records show the acrobatic plane was manufactured in 1941, with an air-worthiness certificate date in June 1995, and currently registered to Paine’s Universal Attitudes LLC in Tucson, Arizona.

It was the first fatal crash at the Madras Airport in over a decade. Thomas Ellsberg, a Bend resident, well-known aerobatic pilot and the CEO of Bellatrix Systems, was killed in a June 2005 crash while practicing aerobatic maneuvers.