Lee Behel
Born
Wesley Behel
Died8 September 2014
Cause of deathAircraft crash due to structural failure
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Known forRacing aircraft

Wesley "Lee" Behel was an American aviator and air racing champion.[1] He was the creator and, at the time of his death the president, of the "Sport Class"[2] a group of racing airplanes designed for planes under 1000 cubic inches in engine size that participate in the Reno Air Races each year in September, as well as a retired Lt. Colonel in the Nevada Air National Guard.[3]

Behel joined the Nevada Air National Guard in 1972, where he flew several aircraft, including the F-101 Voodoo, the F4 Phantom in which he accumulated 2,500 hours of flight time, as well as the RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft.[4] He retired from the Guard in 1996.

In 2000, he first flew in the AirVenture Cup Race, a cross-country open-circuit air race, with his ten-year-old son Jay on board. He would fly that race fifteen straight years.[4]

On 8 September 2014, Behel perished while flying Sweet Dreams, a custom built one of a kind[5] aircraft that was powered by a Chevrolet small-block engine that had been adapted for use in this specific aircraft.[6]

The crash took place in the north end of the race course when the plane Behel was flying suffered a "catastrophic mechanical failure" at 3:16 p.m.[7] According to witnesses, the aircraft took off and flew to enter the course. Around the 5th outer pylon, in an area of the course known as "High-G Ridge",[8] sections of the right wing broke away from the airplane, which then rolled sharply to the right and impacted the ground.[9] The aircraft was estimated to be traveling nearly 400 miles per hour (640 km/h) and was no more than 100 feet (30 m) off the ground when the failure occurred.

The crash occurred during a qualifying heat early in the 2014 Reno Air Race program and will be investigated by the NTSB as well as the FAA. Behel was a certified fighter jet pilot who also enjoyed flying high-performance single-engine race planes.[1] Behel had once owned Steven's Creek Porsche/Audi in Santa Clara, a business that he had sold in 2012.[8]

In April 2014, Behel had set three class world records in the same aircraft: Speed over a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) course, 3 km time-to-climb, and speed over a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) course.[4] Additionally, at the time of his death he held the world speed records for the RF-4C in 100 and 500 km closed courses.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Jack Kane; EPI Inc. "GP-5: Successful V8-Powered Reno Racer".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "Lee Behel - Sport Class Air Racing". Sport Class Air Racing.
  3. Cheryl Goodson. "Reno Championship Air Races - Updated Statement from the National Championship Air Races". Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2014-10-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Reno Crash Claims Pilot Lee Behel". eaa.org. Experimental Aircraft Association. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  5. "Pilot Lee Behel Killed At Reno Air Races In One-Of-A-Kind Aircraft". Business Insider. 9 September 2014.
  6. "Lee Behel, Sport Class Founder, Dies in Reno Crash". Flying Magazine. 9 September 2014.
  7. "Plane crash kills 1 during qualifying at Reno Air Races". USA TODAY. 8 September 2014.
  8. 1 2 "San Jose's Sports Class Pilot Lee Behel involved in fatal accident during National Championship Air Races at Reno-Stead Airport". ABC7 San Francisco.
  9. "Preliminary NTSB Report". NTSB.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
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