Imagine you’re strapped into your race car (or in this case, pickup truck), already having completed your burnout, and you’re inching up to the staging beams in preparation to make a pass. The track starter begins waving you into the beams when, out of nowhere appears a small, fast-moving jet aircraft flying at shockingly low altitude and on a direct trajectory to the tarmac ahead of you, with impact immenent.
This was the horrifying reality that played out for one racer and countless other racers, staff, and fans, who were witnesses to a tragic and deadly plane crash in early August at what appears to be a temporary drag strip in Akureyri, Iceland. Footage of the incident, captured by the racers onboard cameras, was just released today and has already gone viral across news media outlets and social media.
According to the available information, the pilot of the TF-MYX Beechcraft Super King Air 200 Air Ambulance, operated by Air Myflug, had requested a go around before landing at a nearby airport, and flew dangerously fast and low past the drag strip, but quickly lost altitude in what appears to have been an intended low-fly pass of the track and smashed into the ground, the plane erupting into flames upon impact. The Captain, who is said to have had connections with the operators of the strip, died in the crash, along with a Medic who was onboard. The co-pilot was the lone survivor of the crash, and although he hasn’t made any public statements on the incident, it is known that he had made remarks to the Captain about the dangerous flying manuevers before the impact.
Interestingly, the Captain had been involved in another aviation accident 12 years prior, and was treated for injuries by the very same Medic who perished with him in this crash.
If you’re like us, once the shock of what you just witnessed subsides and you’ve replayed the incident a couple of times, the question that will then come to mind is, “there’s drag racing in Iceland? The country with fewer people than the city of St. Louis with little known motorsports involvement to speak of?” Yes indeed, they do.
Video courtesy of LiveLeak