Lodi Man Talked To Reno Pilot Just Before His Death
LODI (CBS13) -- A fellow pilot watched in horror last week as Jimmy Leeward plummeted straight down to his death at the Reno Air Show.
"It looked like a duck that you shot the tail feathers off," said Lodi resident Terry Tarditi, who also pilots a P-51 Mustang like the one Leeward died in. "There was no rhyme or reason for how it was flying."
Still, Tarditi said Leeward died doing what he loved.
"I think Jimmy went out the way he would have wanted to go out," he told CBS13's Koula Gianulias.
The Lodi businessman was working on a pit crew at the Reno air races Friday and talked to Leeward just a few hours before that fatal flight.
"I was chit-chatting with him, just having a good time," he said. "He was very excited. He had his family there, his wife, grandchildren and sons. It was a big event and a big day."
The anticipation was building, Tarditi says, because Leeward, 74, was preparing to take his performance to another level during this year's event.
"He hadn't showed all his cards yet," Tarditi said. "And that was one of the days, he was going to show a few of his cards. Make it go fast. Step on the gas. And unfortunately, this is what happened."
It's an incredible loss for the aviation community, Tarditi says, because Leeward was liked and respected by so many after showing his skill at a very young age.
"At about 14 years old, he soloed a T-6 and in the afternoon a Mustang all in one day," he said. "I spent almost a year going through the different style planes learning to fly the Mustang. It was a big thing, a bit undertaking."
Tuesday it was announced that an 11th victim had died as a result of the crash, which sprayed shrapnel from the plane into the crowd, making it the deadliest at an air show in U.S. history.
