Warbird Information Exchange

Pilot speaks out about fatal crash

By Russ Corey & Mike Goens
Of the TimesDaily


Published: Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 6:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, June 1, 2009 at 10:38 p.m.
B.J. Kennamore said he knew immediately his airplane had been hit and he was in trouble.



Pilot B.J. Kennamore, of Tuscumbia, prepares his aircraft for an afternoon flight in this June 30, 2007, photo. Kennamore was involved in a plane crash that killed Steve Raddatz two weeks ago.


Kennamore and Raddatz left Big River Airpark, a private airfield near their homes in Muscle Shoals, just after 1 p.m.

There were "visual meteorological conditions."

Before departing the airport in Decatur, both pilots planned to perform maneuvers while spectators on the ground took photographs.

The pilots did not preplan any formation flying.

Raddatz' plane left first and performed some aerobatic maneuvers before Kennamore's plane left the runway.

With both planes airborne, Raddatz' RV-8 attempted to fly in formation with Kennamore's Nanchang China CJ-6A during a low pass over the airport.

The RV-8 began to overtake the CJ-6A, while the pilot of the RV-8 announced his relative position over the common traffic advisory frequency.

The pilot of the CJ-6A did not realize how close the RV-8 was, and began a climbing right turn.

As the RV-8 overtook the CJ-6A from left to right, the left wing of the RV-8 contacted the right wing of the CJ-6A.

The left wing of the RV-8 partially separated; the plane descended uncontrolled and impacted the ground.

Raddatz, 41, had 769 hours of total flight experience while Kennamore had logged 3,600 hours.

Both pilots held private pilot's certificates.

Both planes were equipped with hand-held global positioning systems which were forwarded to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, D.C., for data download.

Source: National Transportation Safety Board

His first thought was getting the aircraft under control and doing whatever it took to land safely.

Kennamore's airplane was suddenly upside down on that early afternoon flight May 23. That's when he saw the other aircraft involved in the mid-air collision over Pryor Field near Decatur.

"I remember saying, 'Oh God, it's Steve.' "

Kennamore was referring to longtime friend and fellow pilot Steve Raddatz.

"When it's one of your very best friends and you know the outcome isn't going to be good, it's horrifying," Kennamore said.

Raddatz, with the left wing separated from his aircraft, was unable to regain control. Kennamore said he watched helplessly as his friend crashed in a grassy area near the landing field at Calhoun Community College. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kennamore managed to land safely and suffered minor physical injuries. He said the "horrible tragedy" won't likely leave his mind, though.

"I thought a million times about what I could have done differently," he said. "There's not anything. We were just not on the same page of music."

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a preliminary finding of facts on the crash. Blame was not assigned in the report.

Kennamore discussed the collision Monday, 15 days after he lost his Colbert County neighbor.

"It was horrible to see Steve's plane in a roll," he said. "It's hard to put into words.

"I count myself extremely fortunate to be here. When you look at my aircraft afterward, it doesn't look like it would have been flyable. It was extremely close to ending up differently for me, too."

Kennamore and Raddatz flew from the Muscle Shoals airport to participate in an open house of the new terminal at Pryor Field.

Kennamore, with more than 3,600 hours of flight experience since he started flying airplanes in 1980, said he and Raddatz had no plans to do aerial stunts as some media outlets have reported.

The safety board's report indicates both pilots, before departing the airport, planned to perform maneuvers while spectators on the ground took photographs. They did not preplan any formation flying, according to the NTSB report.

"Steve said he had gotten a call from home and was planning to leave," Kennamore said. "He asked me if I wanted him to stay so we could go back (to Muscle Shoals) together. His plane was so much faster than mine, I just told him to go on and I would be leaving shortly."

Kennamore said Raddatz was already walking to his airplane "when a photographer asked me if I would mind doing some fly-bys. I agreed to do two."

Kennamore said he got on the radio to alert other airplanes in the area that he would be in the flight pattern around the airport to do two passes.

"I'm sure Steve heard the announcement," he said. "I never talked to Steve but he may have thought he would come around and be part of the photo deal.

"As I was coming around for my first pass, it appears Steve was shadowing me. There are certain things you have to say when you're flying in formation, and I never heard anything from Steve or anyone else. I really thought Steve would have been half an airport away."

Kennamore said he was in a right turn in preparation for his first pass of the airport. He said he had no idea anyone would be close.

"I never saw him before we collided," he said. "I felt the impact and it knocked me almost inverted. That's when I looked below and saw Steve rolling."

He said it's unlikely anyone will know for sure what Raddatz was thinking, "but I figure he was just planning to come around at the same time and he miscalculated the closure speed because his plane was so much faster than mine."

Kennamore, 59, said he doesn't know what the plan is at the moment, but he knows there is one for him.

"I don't know what God has planned for me, but there must be something else," he said.

Kennamore hasn't gone back in the air since the collision, but said it's only a matter of time before he does.

He said flying is one of the safest modes of transportation and it's proved often because it's a big deal when something goes wrong.

He said Raddatz had a similar view about aviation and wouldn't want the accident to stain aviation's image.

"All my flying had been fulfilling and satisfying," Kennamore said. "Aviation is a big part of my life and it has a lot to do with who I am and what I do.

"You have to do a self-assessment before you fly. You've got to make sure the aircraft is mechanically sound and you've got to make sure you are mentally sound to fly. I'm sure I will think about this the next time I go up, but I really don't think I'll be scared or nervous. This was a terribly unfortunate thing and I lost a dear friend. It has been a tough thing to go through."