Air Show Pilot Eddie Andreini Was Fatally Injured While Performing During The Show

The family of 77-year-old air show pilot Eddie Andreini has filed three wrongful death claims in connection with the performer's fatal injury during an air show at Travis Air Force Base in May.

The claims name the federal government as the defendant, and claim that emergency crews did not respond quickly enough after Andreini's Boeing E75 Stearman went down during the show and caught fire.

The Sacramento Bee reports that, according to documents presented to the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, “Mr. Andreini died as a result of the rescue and firefighting services’ failure to extinguish the fire and rescue Mr. Andreini from the aircraft in a timely or reasonable manner.”

The claims are a precursor to any lawsuit that may be filed. Travis AFB officials declined to comment.

Amateur video captured at the event show as many as five minutes passed before fire crews arrived at the burning wreckage of Andreini's airplane. According to the NTSB's preliminary report, "review of still and moving images indicated that fire became visible just before the airplane came to a stop, and that the fire patterns were consistent with a pool fire of spilled fuel. Within about 50 seconds, the fire encompassed most of the right (downwind) side of the airplane. USAF rescue and firefighting vehicles and personnel arrived at the airplane about 3 to 4 minutes after the accident, and extinguished the fire."

The paper reports that USAF regulations require that emergency equipment be positioned so that it can respond in seconds to any accident.

(Eddie Andreini pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov