Culpeper Air Fest Event Accident Occurred After 2000 ET
The airshow industry finds itself in the unwelcome, but familiar, role of mourning another pilot whose life was lost while performing an airshow routine... this time, at the Culpeper Air Fest in Brandy Station, VA. A night performance, accompanied with pyrotechnic displays, was underway with the two ship team of Jon Thocker and Ken Rieder were flying just after 8 PM, Local Time. For as yet unknown reasons, Thocker's RV-8 went down midway through the performance with fatal result. Air Fest officials posted a short statement to social media following the accident, "During the night portion of the Culpeper Air Fest an aerobatic act experienced an accident. Emergency services that were onsite wer