FAIRHOPE — Approximately 15,000 people turned out to attend the Fairhope Festival of Flight last weekend, and authorities are saying the event was a tremendous success. The two-day event featured more than 50 aircraft in on-ground displays, aerobatic stunts, and military flight demonstrations. 

World War II aircraft, including a B-25 Mitchell bomber, a P-51 Mustang fighter, a Navy Corsair gull-wing fighter, and Avenger torpedo bomber were big hits with spectators. 

“Everyone seemed to be in awe of the four F-16's as they performed low fly-overs of the runway and then left the show area by going straight vertical, disappearing as dots into the sun,” said Chuck Zunk, chairman of the airport authority.

Siblings Patrick and Katie Mutual waited in line for hours to take a 15-minute ride in a restored antique biplane with Bird of Paradise flights.

“I’m so nervous,” said 15-year-old Katie. “I’ve never been in a plane before. This is my first time.”

“I’m not nervous at all,” said Patrick.

The pair said they enjoyed the festival and were impressed with the flying displays.

One visitor, Ute McPherson, said her 4-year-old daughter, Madeleine, had a dream come true when the pilot of a C130 — Madeleine’s favorite plane — invited her to join him in the cockpit.

“These are the kinds of planes that fly over our house,” the little girl told him. “I’m little bit nervous because this plane is the biggest.”

“We live near the Silverhill Training Field located outside of Fairhope and the Navy pilots practice approach and landings there almost every day,” explained her father.

Around noon on Saturday, Robbie Grice, an aerobatic pilot from Bayou La Batre, was injured in an accident while performing in his “Alley Cat,” a modified Ag-Cat biplane. Grice’s highly modified aerobatic biplane slammed into the airport runway while completing a loop maneuver in the closing moments of his act. Grice is a highly accomplished pilot and had performed his act at numerous airshows. 

Eyewitnesses gave mixed reports about what happened, with some saying the plane came down too hard on its landing gear, and many saying at first they thought it was part of the act.

It became clear that it was not, and emergency personnel rushed to the site. Grice was able to extricate himself from the craft, raising his arms in the air to let spectators know he had survived, but he collapsed after leaving the plane. He was taken to Thomas Hospital in Fairhope where he was admitted at 12:15 p.m., and was later transported to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile. Airport officials released a statement saying only that Grice was listed in fair condition Monday.

Tony Wade, the owner of Tony’s Towing and a pilot, and John Wade, a tow truck operator, were at the show when the crash took place, and they were able to respond quickly and remove the plane from the runway. John said he waited while pictures were taken for documentation purposes, and then started loading the plane onto the company’s large wrecker.

“Those aircraft don’t weigh that much really,” Wade said.

During the crash, the engine had fallen out of the plane, making it lighter.

Wade said it took around an hour to clean up the site and remove the plane.

“That included getting (Grice) loaded into the ambulance and the fire department making sure everything was safe for us to load it,” Wade said.

An investigation wasn’t necessary, said Wade, because there were so many eyewitnesses.

The plane was scheduled to be moved to Louisiana on Tuesday, said Linda Wade.

Craig Sawyer, public information officer for the Fairhope Police Department, said the department was in charge of handling security during the event. Although he was not at the show, he said the department handled the situation well.

“From what I understood, when the plane hit some of our officers were the first ones out there.”

Despite the near tragedy, the festival continued, and airport officials and festival planners say they hope to see the pilot return next year.

“We are very appreciative to Robbie for his participation and contribution to the festival and look forward to seeing him perform again soon,” said Zunk.