Page 2 - Steerman Ashley News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

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. yo...

>> it was used to train first-time pilots. a lot of them are flown by barnstorming pilots. they are revered by those pilots 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 will simulate a bombing run. >> we replicate an old-time barnstorming act that was in the '30s and '40s and down comes the bomb. yes! >> i fly there just for fun. it's my excuse to go out on sundays and fly in circles. >> we do formation flying. >> ...

Has saved their lives. >> the plane was resting on its upper wing, upside down and it 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 would be flipping them over. 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 wheel. the brake...

Barnstorming pilots. they are revered by those pilots the way some people love a model 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 comedy acts. i did wha...

>> 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 less than 12 hours, and it's been picked up all around the world. >> while the video goes viral, the steerman goes to the repair shop. >> airplanes can get fixed. runways can get fixed. people don't get fixed that easy. >> whoa! >> there's a lot of very fortunate things happened that day. the most fortunate thing is nobody got hurt. >> coming up -- rafters are stranded in an icy raging river. >> there are no guarantees that they would be successfully rescued. ...