UPDATE- 9/18: At Least 3 Killed, 50 Injured After World War II Era Plane Crashes Into Crowd At Nevada Air Show

UPDATE 9/18- The death toll in the Air Races crash has been raised to nine.

At least three people were killed and more than 50 injured when a P-51 Mustang crashed into a crowd during an air show in Reno, NV on Friday night.

Photo: Reno Gazette-Journal

Investigators were scrambling to determine what caused a powerful World War II vintage racing plane traveling at up to 400 mph to plunge toward spectators at the fabled Reno air races late Friday afternoon, leaving a shattered trail of twisted debris and broken bodies.

At least three people were confirmed dead, including the pilot, and more than 50 were injured, about 15 of them critically. Because of the number and the extent of the injuries, the death toll could rise, officials said.

"I did have an opportunity to visit the site, and it is horrific," Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said after the nation's premier aviation race turned swiftly into a disaster scene for onlookers seated near the path of the deep-throated planes hurtling 400 feet overhead.

"As I saw the plane coming directly at us, I dove," said Nick Sorrentino, 19, an audio technician who was standing just below the stands when the plane hit. "It was mass chaos. People running. People on the ground. Body parts all over the ground."

The National Championship Air Races in Reno feature some of the fastest racing planes in the world traveling at breakneck speed around pylons on a course suspended above Reno-Stead Airport, about 15 miles north of the city.

Danger is an expected part of the program for pilots — 19 others have died in the races since 1964. But Friday's accident was the first to involve spectators, race president Mike Houghton said.

The pilot was identified as 74 year old Jimmy Leeward, a veteran stunt pilot who appeared in movies and ran the Florida-based Leeward Air Ranch. Eyewitness accounts said that the plane attempted to steer away from the VIP grandstand section at the last minute, possible indicating some sort of mechanical failure.

Epic FAA-IL 5th Air Traffic Controller in Less than 1 Month Suspended or Fired For Sleeping on the Job

The FAA said that an air traffic controller had fallen asleep at the job early Saturday Morning at a facility in Miami, the fifth such incident in approximately three weeks.

The incident occurred at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center during the midnight shift early Saturday morning, two days before the FAA is expected to conduct meetings on air traffic control safety and professionalism, the FAA reported. According to a preliminary review of air traffic tapes, the controller did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no operational impact, the agency said in a statement. The incident was reported to a manager by another controller, the FAA said. There were 12 controllers and two managers on duty.

The Miami incident came a few days after two air traffic controllers were caught dozing off on the job in two separate instances- one in Seattle's Boeing Field and the other at Reno-Tahoe international in Reno, NV. In the Nevada incident, a medical flight was attempting to contact Air Traffic Control, but the plane was able to land safely in clear weather without guidance from the tower.

The head of the FAA's air traffic organization, Hank Krakowski, resigned last week in the wake of similar incidents of air traffic controllers napping on the job. The FAA terminated a controller who was caught napping at McGhee Tyson International Airport in Nashville, TN back on Feb 19th and an American Airlines and United flight landed at northern Virginia's Reagan International Airport across the Potomac from Washington D.C in the early morning hours of Mar. 23rd without any aid from the tower because the controller there was reportedly asleep.

Incidentally, the FAA appears to be looking to train and hire more air traffic controllers at this time.