KC-MO Air Show Closed After Stunt Pilot Dies in Crash at Downtown Airport

A crash of a stunt biplane occurred about 1:40 p.m. Saturday afternoon at KC-MO's Wheeler Downtown Airport in front of thousands of spectators during the Kansas City Airshow.

The pilot died- but no one else was hurt.

Witnesses said the pilot had the plane in some aerial maneuvers when the plane didn't pull out of a dive and crashed into the ground between runways at the airport and burst into flames.

The pilot was identified at a 3 p.m. press conference.

The pilot's name was Bryan Jensen.

Thousands of people were watching the show that had been delayed by rainshowers in the area through Saturday morning.

Many left the airshow after the crash with looks of shock on their faces.



Airshow organizers have cancelled the show for the rest of today- but tickets for today's show will be honored for Sunday's show.

CSW BREAKING: Severe Storms Knock Power Out For Tens of Thousands Across Kansas City MetroRegion

On top of strong storms late Thursday night into early Friday morning and the 110000 persons left powerless from that bout- another round of severe storms has knocked power out for thousands more.


Tree and powerline damage is heaviest in Leavenworth KS early Saturday morning.

Hail the size of golfballs- severe winds and torrential rain struck Leavenworth twice during the midnight and 1 am hours- knocking out power to a large area of that city.

Numerous trees and limbs down and a vehicle was reportedly "destroyed" in the 700 block of Osage.

Fire and police units spent hours running down reports of trees and/or limbs blocking streets and power lines down throughout the city.

In Metro KC- an estimated 70000 customers in the large Kansas City Power & Light (KCPL) areas are again without power this morning- with more outages in St. Joseph and Sedalia.

Around 2:45 a.m.- a tree reportedly fell on a house in the 6900 block of North Berkeley near Parkville- according to the Southern Platte Fire Protection District dispatcher.

No one was hurt..

Rainfalls were heaviest near K.C.I. where more than 2.6-inches fell. 

Most other area rainfalls were greater than an inch- and a few water rescues were required in KC-MO in regularly flooding locations.

No injuries were reported.

 

Storm-related house fires were also reported in KC-KS- KC- Independence- rural Smithville and Belton MO with possible lightning strikes on structures in several other locations.

Again- no injuries were reported.

CSW BREAKING: Metro Kansas City News and Weather Update

Two vehicle crashes in the wrap-up stages in the Metro:

In Parkville near the entrance to Park College- a 1-vehicle down an embankment with extrication needed for the male driver- and near KC-MO's northeast Downtown Loop southbound I-35 south of Front Street near the Paseo exit- a 2-vehicle affair with non life-threatening injuries to a female passenger.


DUI checkpoints are reportedly being/or are set-up north of I-70 on Noland Road in Independence and in Olathe on 119th Street west of I-35.

Police are thick around the Plaza-Westport areas- but citizen activity is very light so far (everyone scared away?).

Severe thunderstorms are in Northeastern Kansas and are working their way into the northwest Metro.

Storm warnings are in effect for parts of Platte county MO and Leavenworth county KS as a severe storm moves southeast from Atchison county KS..

There is no severe storm watch in effect- but a Flash Flood is in effect for Metro Kansas City and northern Missouri MetroRegion.

MetroRegion Kansas City NEWS: Missouri State Fair Back On- Thousands More Still Without Electricity from Overnight Storms

As stated in an earlier post at CSW- Metro and MetroRegion Kansas City were smacked by powerful thunderstorms that swept south from Iowa and Nebraska.

High winds caused the electricity to go out for many Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) customers- estimated as high as 120000 out by dawn- and a recent KCP&L outage map (shown here) indicates power is still out to thousands.


The storm has caused a long delay in today's opening of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.

Storm winds caused evacuations of campers to permanent structures- and damage to trees and power lines- but no injuries according to The SEDALIA (MO) DEMOCRAT.

It's the extensive power line damage that has the fair still closed as of 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Storm damage was also reported in Topeka KS and St. Joseph MO..

As of 3:13 p.m.- a KCP&L map showing where the power outages are and how many.

Notice the reds- 1000 to 4999 (electrical meters) out in the given area- covering Sedalia- St. Joseph and (not shown) Maryville MO as well as a small area in the 66208 Zip Code- Overland Park- Prairie Village and Leawood.

More storms are expected again overnight in Metro Kansas City- particularily areas near and north of U.S. 50 & 54 highways in Missouri and Interstate 70 in Kansas.

Torrential- possibly flash-flooding rainfalls are the primary threat- with damaging- power-cutting lightning strikes also a big concern.

The thunderstorms should be fairly strong/heavy where they fall- but no severe storm threat is indicated by the NWS-SPC within 75 miles of Downtown KC-MO at this time.

CSW Commentary: KC-MO's New Curfew Will Keep Police Stretched Thin

Nary a weekend goes by during my overnight news duties when one KC-MO police patrol district or "zone" doesn't need assistance from other officers in other patrol zones because of call volume.

Police and we in the news media call these "black-outs."

With the new youth curfew going in effect this weekend for select KC-MO "entertainment areas-" I expect these police "black-outs" will become more numerous.

If your need for an immediate police response is away from those "entertainment areas" being closely watched- (arm yourself) you may be in for a wait.


I'll be keeping close tabs on all the activity beginning at 11 p.m. tonight and Saturday until 6 a.m. the next mornings- and I'll let you know here at CSW how things turned out.

CSW WEATHER: Map of Some Metro Kansas City Rainfall Totals From Overnight- August So Far

Severe thunderstorms produced around 444 severe weather reports in America yesterday into early this Friday morning according to the NWS' Storm Prediction Center (SPC)- and many of those severe weather reports were right here in our Central States.

Winds gusting well into tropical storm-force range brought down trees- limbs and power lines throughout MetroRegion Kansas City into the early morning hours- even causing a few instances of injuries and structural damage.


Two injuries were reported in an NWS report when a gas station canopy blew onto their car in Winston in Daviess county MO (Cameron MO on-line paper "MyNorthwestMO" says no one was hurt) and a Southwest Airlines pilot reportedly suffered "serious" injuries after he was struck by large hail at Omaha's Eppley airfield- according to the OMAHA (NE) WORLD.


In Metro Kansas City- around 100-thousand people were without electrical power in the Kansas City Power & Light areas of service alone- but except for many parts of Sedalia- St. Joseph and Maryville MO- most had been restored this morning.

Now the rainfall maps- courtesy of the Overland Park STORMWATCH site:

Shown first are Metro maps- Northland through central KC-MO and Southland covering central and south KC-MO and Johnson county KS.

Next are the same maps- showing accumulated rainfall so far this August 2011 in those various areas of the Metro.

CSW WEATHER: Severe Storm Watch Includes Metro Kansas City and Environs Until 2 AM

An impressive thunderstorm complex continues to sink southward from NE and IA- and the SPC has advised severe thunderstorms (tstms) are now possible in eastern KS and western MO.

Severe Tstm Watch No. 788 is in effect through 2 a.m. Friday morning and includes not only Metro K.C.- but from Topeka through Clinton MO areas.

In the Metro- strong storm outflow winds may preceed other winds- possible hail and torrential rain in the main tstm.


Best to avoid north-facing (exposures) windows overnight folks.

CSW WEATHER: Tornado Watch For Northern Kansas City MetroRegion Until 1 AM

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman Oklahoma has issued Tornado Watch No. 787 for much of northeastern to southeastern Nebraska- extreme southwestern Iowa and northwestern Missouri.

In the Kansas City MetroRegion- the Tornado Watch is generally north of U.S. 36 highway and west of Interstate 35.

This watch DOES NOT include St. Joseph or Chillicothe- but TW-787 DOES include (Andrew- DeKalb counties) the Maryville and Bethany areas of northwest Missouri.

Scattered severe and sometimes tornadic thunderstorms rage from northeast through eastern NE into southwestern IA and are entering northwest and north MO this evening.

The entire multi-storm complex is sinking southward- and with time- likely late tonight into early Friday- these storms will enter the Metro Kansas City area.


If a severe storm watch is issued- expect damaging large hail- severe winds and deadly lightning with torrential rain in the storngest storm cells.

Missouri River Flood of 2011- Latest Upper Missouri Reservoir Readings - August 18

The following are the latest reservoir readings on the upper Missouri River- taken on Thursday morning- August  18.

NOTE: This presentation is being posted once a week until September 1.

The key to the project parameters listed can be found on this previous CSW post on daily USACE project readings.

There are also three-week predictions made by USACE on inflows and discharges for each dam/reservoir in the Pick-Sloan system found HERE.



Also- the National Weather Service's US 5-Day precipitation outlook and forecasted rainfall amounts.

Regardless of What Sued K.C. Blogger Says- Capt. Spaulding's World is Also A "Free Speech Zone"

Word has filtered through my Windows this morning that a local blogger is being sued by a local firefighter union head for allegedly untrue accusations that blogger said he received from "sources."

The story is here at The Pitch.

In addition- in an emailed comment to The Pitch the blogger being sued claims his blog is "The Only Free Speech Zone in Kansas City."


This is blatantly untrue (like the accusations made against the union boss?)- for here at CSW comments are allowed anonymously as well- for your Captain is a HUGE supporter of freedom of speech as well as other rapidly-diappearing American rights. 

CSW WEATHER: NWS- "Slight" Risk of Severe Storms- Excessive Rainfalls in Metro- MetroRegion Kansas City

It's been a very pleasant period of mid to late-summer weather across the MetroRegion and most of the Central States for about the past week to 10 days.


It appears that at least the next several days will continue near to slightly above normal- with chances for overnight and morning showers and thunderstorms.

There is a chance of severe storms beginning during the day today in the Dakotas- and those storms are forecast to roll southeastward toward MetroRegion and Metro Kansas City by early Friday morning.

Some excessive rainfall is also predicted in our area (get out your rain-catchers!).

In fact- excessive rains are possible over parts of the MetroRegion and the middle Central States through Saturday- while the severe storm risk moves westward for Friday into Saturday.

The storm and rain events locally should again- be during the late night and overnight hours.

We'll keep you advised here at CSW....

Central States News: American Pioneer-era Blacksmith's Shop - Museum Opens in Summerfield KS

If- like me- you're a fan of the various media depictions of the "Old West-" you know what the importance  the town blacksmith had in the civic scheme of things.


If not- there's asking any sore-hoofed horse from that time or the Wikipedia description.


Regardless- the MARYSVILLE (KS) ADVOCATE reports the restoration and grand opening of an old-time blacksmith's shop in the small far-northeastern Marshall county Kansas town of Summerfield (on the Nebraska border).

A Beatrice NE couple- Dave and Liz Zahm- bought the run-down shop in 2007- according to the MA story- and have restored the shop that was built in the late 19th-century to it's original condition and added a blacksmithing museum.

The grand opening is August 20-21 with a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. Saturday and "Re-enactments going on all day Saturday, plus "FLINTNAPPING, WHEELWRIGHT, ROPEMAKEING, DUTCH OVEN COOKING, AND MUCH MORE."

The KNBE-1450 AM radio Website also states a "DUTCH OVEN SUPPER SATURDAY NIGHT FROM 5-7 (pm).

CSW BREAKING: Person Rescued in South KC-MO House Fire

At 1:49 p.m. KC-MO Fire & EMS was dispatched on a house fire with "an elderly" occupant "possibly trapped inside" in the 9800 block of Wheeling.


At 1:52 p.m. Pumper Company 41 is first on-scene reporting "smoke showing" from a 2-story structure- and they order additional companies in a "working fire response." 

At 1:56 p.m. Pumper 42's crew reports finding "one (a female) victim" in a "back bedroom" and has that victim outside at 1:57 p.m.- condition yet unknown.

At 1:58 p.m.- fire command reports the fire itself being "under control."

As of 2:36 p.m.- I have not yet heard any transport of the victim- but later reports indicate the female victim was taken to an unknown hospital- condition unknown.

Once Again- Kansas City MO City Council Wants To Kill Citizen Petitions To Vote on Issues

One very fundamental right Americans have is to petition their respective govermental entities for change- to be able to vote on an issue or issues that affect them.


The Kansas City MO City Council for the 2nd (3rd attempt) time in less than 5 years wants to deprive Kansas City (and American) citizens both that fundamental right and their votes thereon.


It started in 2007- when the Kansas City council OVERTURNED voter's wishes for a light rail public transportation system.

Last year- city "leaders" also attempted to stop the vote on the Earnings Tax- note that city "leaders" are STILL attempting to stop subsequent votes on the E-Tax.


It's now happening again- as the council wants to ignore the valid petitions from citizens to vote on a new nuclear weapons-components plant in far south KC-MO- according to this story from (what's left of) The KANSAS CITY STAR.


I wonder- if the citizens petitioned the Council for their recall- would the Council attempt to block that too???