NTSB: 2 pilots in air collision over Alabama college campus planned the aerial stunts

NTSB: Pilots in Ala. crash planned aerial stunts

DECATUR, Ala. — A report says two pilots whose experimental planes collided in the air over a college campus in Decatur, Ala., killing one of them, had planned to perform aerial stunts while spectators took photos.

The National Transportation and Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the May 23 collision near Pryor Field in Decatur that killed 41-year-old Steven Raddatz of Tuscumbia.

The NTSB says the left wing of his amateur-built Hazelwood RV-8 hit the right wing of the other plane. It caused his plane to descend uncontrollably and crash onto the campus of Calhoun Community College. No one on the ground was injured.

Fifty-nine-year-old B. J. Kennamore landed his experimental aircraft safely and had minor injuries.