Another tragedy befalls the France family
The family of former NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. has suffered yet another tragedy only one month after the former NASCAR chief died of cancer. The husband of NASCAR executive Lesa France Kennedy died in a tragic plane crash along with another long-time NASCAR employee after their twin-engine Cesna 310 began emitting smoke in the cabin. Dr. Bruce Kennedy was attempting to land the disabled plane at Sanford-Orlando Airport but never got there, as the aircraft crashed into a house. Several people on the ground were injured or killed in the accident, which is obviously casting more pain on the France family and NASCAR. [Source: AutoWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
summazooma 10:42AM (7/11/2007)
Yes, definitely a tragedy for the France family but... even more of one for the two children and young mother that were killed on the ground (including a 6 month old?).
Sorry, as much as it's a dark day for the France family, it's a much darker one for the family on the ground.
RIP to all the victims
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Greg 2:12PM (7/11/2007)
I agree 100%
From what I heard, one boy was seen running out of the house 'on fire'.... he might still be alive, but the thought of it makes me cringe.
Ya know... for all of the rules against drivers of Automobiles.... all in the name of safety.... it's about time laws are passed against these private planes that are allowed to fly over homes.
Just a few months ago.... another well to do baseball player slammed his plane into a high rise apartment building in NYC.
Enough is enough.... man has proven himself the ability to fly... but at what expense?
9e_pilot 3:16PM (7/11/2007)
"it's about time laws are passed against these private planes that are allowed to fly over homes."
totally, we should bulldoze 5 miles around every airport and clear out the land for the planes that fly less than 3000' to prevent this from happening. yeah, great idea. Pilots fly low because they have to for one reason or another, not to crash into houses. As a pilot, I fly as high as I can for the given situation because if my engine shuts off in flight, the higher I am, the more options I have for finding a landing spot that isn't a house.
summazooma 9:57PM (7/11/2007)
No, man,... I'm not against private planes. I just wanted to point out that there were total innocents killed in this accident (and, that's what it was, apparently...). If anything, if I was a relative of those who died on the ground (or, even, had loved ones die in similar circumstances elsewhere), I'd be put off by the fact that nothing was noted about the loss of life unrelated to the France family.
Again, RIP to everyone involved.
Lee Gibson 2:47PM (7/11/2007)
Greg, do you suppose you could be troubled to consider the number of fatalities per passenger mile in aviation vs. automobile travel?
I know the pictures of burning stuff are very scary, but I need you to try to keep your brain working. Let's be rational.
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yoinkers 8:38PM (7/11/2007)
Chris Shunk when you wrote this blog item did you just not bother to read the entire story? Instead of "several people on the ground were injured or killed..." how about a mother and her child in one house another child in the other house were killed. Plus those injured on the ground were another mother and child who ran out of the house on fire.
It's much more tragic than "several people on the ground killed".
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