Organizers Hope Prescott SkyFest Will Return In '09

A young and growing airshow in Arizona has been forced to cancel the event for 2008 due to a lawsuit involving a 2006 crash.

The Prescott Daily Courier reports the Arizona Skyfest, which had grown to attract 15,000 visitors in its four years of existence, has been cancelled in 2008 for fears the sponsor money normally used to cover event costs would be attached for payment of an award in the wrongful death lawsuit.

The suit was filed in September 2007 by family members of victims of a crash which occurred when, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, a Piper Cheyenne III got too close to a MiG 21 during a photo shoot, encountered the jet's high velocity jet core exhaust, and slammed upside down into the ground.

As ANN reported, the Cheyenne was maneuvering near the MiG to investigate a landing gear issue with the jet.

Among those killed was pilot William Friedman, the airshow's executive director, and passenger Warren Parkes, the show's operations director. A preliminary investigation revealed the Cheyenne's upper empennage structure separated from the fuselage prior to impact, but the two aircraft did not make contact in the air.

The accident happened 16 miles from Prescott's Ernest A. Love Airport, and current board members say the Prescott Air Fair Association, which staged the annual event, was in no way responsible, has no assets, and has no insurance. The October 18, 2006 accident occurred several weeks after the 2006 AirFest event.

The board says it hopes the event can return in 2009.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov