Chen Family Watches James Wright's Final Moments In Stunned Horror

As Aero News reported last week (ANN: "Hughes Racer Replica, Pilot, Lost In WY Crash" -- August 5, 2003), pilot James Wright died near the Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park in the crash of his stunning Hughes Racer replica as he was flying back home to Oregon from Oshkosh. Below is a touching letter ANN received from a family who witnessed the crash. The letter is addressed to Wright's family and, as you'll see, is a tribute to what those who saw the incident say was the pilot's bravery and unselfish sacrifice in order to save innocent souls on the ground:

Dear Mr. Wright’s family,

Please accept our condolence. Our thoughts and hearts are with your family. Let us introduce ourselves first. On August 4, 2003 at around 6:30 p.m., my family was visiting the Midway geyser (about 3 or 4 miles north of the Old Faithful). We were on the boardwalk of the southern edge of the hot springs.

The following are words from each member of my family:

Ning’s Own Words:

I was near the west side bench. My wife, Mei-Ling, was about 150 feet away. We were shooting pictures of each other (I used a camcorder and she used a camera). All of a sudden, a person near me yelled: “Look at that plane.” I turned my camcorder toward the south sky and saw a blue-yellow plane coming from the south and heading straight to the north. I also heard several loud sounds.

I am not a pilot. The best way I can describe the sound is – it rumbled like an old car back firing continuously for about 2-3 seconds. I did NOT hear any regular airplane buzzing sound before I (and other people near me) noticed this approaching airplane. I also didn’t hear any buzzing sound after the rumbling sounds described before.

It is worthwhile to mention that the plane was heading directly toward my wife and several other people on the boardwalk. The plane was about 500 feet away from her with a height of 300 to 400 feet. She and several other people were directly under the flight path. The next thing I observed was that the plane all of a sudden veered to its right (heading toward east). After 2 or 3 more seconds, I saw a huge explosion coming from the creek next to the main road.

Right after the explosion, my family and another family next to us concluded that the pilot of the plane purposely steered the plane away from its original flight path to spare the lives of the people on the ground.  

Ian’s Own Words (Ian is 12 years old)

I was also at the same bench my dad and brother was near. My mom was taking my picture when suddenly; someone yelled “Look at that plane.” I looked up and saw the plane sort of swaying and tilting. I knew that it would crash, but I didn’t know how severe it would be. Then, the plane started to swerve away from the boardwalk, flipped perpendicular to the ground, and crashed into a small hill near the river wing first.

Later, my family figured that the pilot swerved away so that he would not endanger the lives of the people on the ground which also included my mom.

Ethan’s Own Words (Ethan Is 9 Years Old)

First I did not see or hear the plane. Then, somebody yelled “Look at that plane.” I turned around and saw the plane heading toward us. It was wobbling a little bit. I first thought it was doing a stunt or something. But then I realized it was going to land or crash toward us. But the plane suddenly swerved out of the way and it suddenly dropped down and crashed. A big explosion followed afterward.

Mei-Ling’s Own Words:

It was a beautiful Monday afternoon at Midway geyser.  The sky was clear and the sunset was beautiful at the geyser area. It was a best pictorial moment.  I was standing at the center of the south boardwalk , using telephoto lens of 35mm camera and taking pictures of my family, who were about 100 feet away from me (at the west side of the geyser area). Then I heard a guy near me yelled “look at that plane, it is acting weird”. Then I turned around looked toward south (I did not hear any engine sound before this moment), I saw an old style airplane heading toward me.

It was wobbling, my first thought was “This guy is doing the stunt, but it’s too low to do a stunt!” Then my second thought was “if he keeps flying toward me, I better duck down”, at that moment, the plane suddenly pull to its right (which is toward east). My thought was “Oh , no! It is going to crush!” So I started taking pictures of the plane. Because of low camera speed, I could only take about 1 to 2 pictures before it crashed.

After the plane crashed, it created a huge boom and explosion with fire and a large black cloud. At that moment, I realized that it was impossible for someone to survive this crash. And my though was this pilot probably tried to land on this flat field of the geyser area, as he approached, he realized there were about 20 plus people on the ground. And at the final moment he decided to change course and avoid those people on the ground. As I made witness statement to Ranger Mr. Bob Seibert, I’ve learned that for this type of plane, in the case of emergency landing, it won’t glide down to the ground, instead, at certain point, it will drop from the air.

Finally, I realized Mr. Wright really spared the lives of the people on the ground. With almost full tank of fuel, I can’t image how many people will be hurt if he decided to go ahead and took that chance to land on the geyser area. It must be really hard for him to make the decision at that final moment. I am writing this letter to let you know how an honorable man he was. Our family is very grateful for his action. I could only pray that this letter would bring a peace of mind to your family.

Sincerely,

The Chen family:

Ning
Mei-Ling
Ian Chen
Ethan Chen

Yorba Linda, CA