t or the little deuce coupe. they re restored, they re cared for. the steerman ashley is to ride in is owned by michael trushell, who performs with the flying circus in northern virginia. we re going to simulate a strafing and bombing run. we replicated an act that was done in the 30s and 40s. six shots, down comes the bomb. yes! i fly there just for fun. it s my excuse to go out on sundays and fly in circles. the beginning of the show, we do formation flying. we ll do aerobatic acts. we ll do comedy acts. i did what s called a balloon shoot. he is to fly the steerman in an event promoting a 3-d film on flying. ashley halsey decides this is the perfect time to try out a camera he s just bought. the camera was new to me. i played with it so that i knew
the way some people love a model t or a little deuce coupe. they re restored, they re cared for. the steerman ashley is to ride in is owned by michael trushell, who performs with the flying circus in northern virginia. we re going to simulate a strafing and bombing run. we replicate an oldtime barn storming act that was done in the 30s and 40s. six shots, down comes the bomb. yes! i fly there just for fun. it s my excuse to go out on sundays and fly in circles. the beginning of the show, we do formation flying. wel do comedy acts. i did what s called a balloon shoot. he is to fly the steerman in an event promoting a 3-d film on flying. ashley halsey decides this is the perfect time to try out a camera he s just bought. the camera was new to me. i played with it so that i knew how to start it and stop it with relative confidence.
upside down. the plane could explode at any moment. the fuel tank in this airplane is located in the top wing. we flipped over on to the top wing. my first thought was a ruptured fuel tank and that we had to get away from the airplane. the wrong move now could prove fatal. if you just undo your straps, you will fall out, you could break your neck. it s a hazard. a lot of people survive crashes, then hurt themselves in just getting out of the airplane. you okay? yep. mike, being the consummate pro pilot, dropped out of his harness and helped me drop out of the cockpit. with his camera still rolling, ashley scrambles free. the next thing we heard were sirens. you guys okay? we re fine, thank you. as emergency vehicles race toward the plane, ashley and mike realize the plane itself has saved their lives. the plane was resting on its upper wing, upside down.
took a heck of an impact because we flipped over hard. the steerman is one tough little plane. it was built for training. they knew they were going to be abused. they knew people were going to be flipping them over and it was just a really well designed airplane. in hindsight, mike realizes what s happened is also due to a feature of his vintage plane. its finicky brakes. it s notorious to be a tough airplane to land. when i landed in fighting the wind, it was gusty. i touched down on the main wheels. the brakes on my plane were the original drum brakes. you ever had original drum brakes, they stick. if you look at the videos, you see the smoke coming out from the tires. it s obvious, it s a brake lockup. for ashley, this video may prove to be the most widely distributed story of his career in journalism. it was a camera i owned for
a vintage plane lands at washington international airport and flips upsidedown. caught on two cameras. i was just shocked. i couldn t figure out why that would happen. in june 2010, ashley halsey iii, transportation reporter for the washington post, is invited by a friend to take a ride on a vintage plane. he said we re going to be flying steermans into national airport, would you like to be on one? i said yes, even though i didn t know what a steerman was. the steerman, he learns, is a treasured world war ii biplane. it was used to train first-time pilots. a lot of them are flown by barnstorming pilots. they are revered by those pilots