It was a tough start for Sun 'n Fun...

Friday, April 5th, two aircraft collided over Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport shortly after 1500 EST. Both aircraft were reported to have been in Lakeland for this week's Fly-in and two persons were transported to Lakeland Regional Hospital... one in critical condition. Both aircraft carried only a single pilot and no passengers.

Late Friday night, the pilot of the RV-6A, Jerry Morrison, 63, of Austin TX, (who had been reported to be in critical condition), died due to the injuries suffered in the crash.

Quick inspection of limited imagery available to ANN showed two aircraft in close proximity to each other, impacted close to a runway at the airport. One was Morrison's Van's Aircraft RV-6A. The other was a 1949 Piper PA-16 Clipper, currently registered to Stephen Pierce of Graham, TX.

This accident was actually the second of the day. It occurred just a few hours after a previous accident in which an experimental aircraft reportedly suffered a "hard landing." Local media is claiming that Sun 'n Fun has now been involved (directly or indirectly) in nearly thirty accidents, with a total of 15 fatalities since 1975. A quick look at our records indicate that this estimate (at least the total number) may actually be understated.

Some footage of the accident site shows what appears to be a significant amount of smoke obscuring parts of the sky and local reports note that a "burn" was conducted in a nearby field and may have decreased local visibility. A televised eyewitness report (allegedly from a pilot) also indicates that the accident occurred as both aircraft were approaching to land on LAL's Rwy 27R.

Sun 'n Fun started Sunday and early arrivals, though not as heavy as seen in previous years (according to an airport staffer), pick up significantly in the days immediately preceding the event.

Saturday wasn't much better--with THREE additional accidents reported at this year's Fly-In, (and despite what several observers seem to think is diminished traffic as compared to previous years). While injuries, Saturday, were listed as minimal, several aircraft were significantly damaged (including a mangled Navion that's now missing most of it's hind quarters).

Last year, the Fly-In had a number of accidents, including one in which a pilot was killed and his passenger injured as they were directed to take-off from a limited, soft-field, runway environment by Sun 'n Fun staffers, with a reported 11 knot downwind component and allegedly after staffers had refused the aid of real-time WX data from a portable digital weather station.

The Fly-In has been under fire, from a number of sources (including ANN) for a number of questionable safety practices (including well documented cases of SnF management's unwillingness to address illegal or unsafe practices on the Fly-In site) for well over a decade. [ANN thanks the Lakeland Ledger and WFLA for their assistance with this story].

FMI: http://www.lakelandairport.com