CINCINNATI (AP) — An air show in southwestern Ohioreopened with a moment of silence Sunday, a day
after a pilot and wingwalker died in a horrifying, fiery crash in front of thousands ofspectators.The
Vectren Air Show near Dayton, which closed rightafter Saturday’s crash, resumed Sunday in honor of pilot
CharlieSchwenker and veteran stuntwoman Jane Wicker, both of Virginia."Asa pilot, you accept the fact
that accidents do happen — it’s anaccepted risk we take," said John King, president of the Flying
CircusAirshow, which employed Wicker."They were both dedicated toflying and the act. They were true,
ultimate professionals," King said."I don’t know of anyone who could have done any better than
what theywere doing."Wicker and Schwenker were killed when their planecrashed in front of spectators
who screamed in shock as the aircraftbecame engulfed in flames. No one else was hurt.Video of thecrash
showed their plane gliding through the sky before abruptly rolledover, crashing and exploding into flames.
Wicker, performing at theDayton show for the first time, had been sitting atop the 450 HPStearmans.The
decision to resume the show a day after the crashwas an emotional one supported by Wicker’s ex-husband, said
air showgeneral manager Brenda Kerfoot."He said, ‘This is what Jane andCharlie would have
wanted,’" Kerfoot said. "’They want you to have asafe show and go out there and do what you do
best.’"Wicker, 44,who lived in Bristow, Va., was a mother of two boys and engaged to bemarried, Kerfoot
said. Schwenker, 64, of Oakton, Va., was married.Thecause of the crash is unclear and the conclusion of an
investigation bythe National Transportation Safety Board likely will take months.Investigators picked
through the debris of the crash site Saturday.Wicker’swebsite says she responded to a classified ad from the
Flying CircusAirshow in Bealeton, Va., in 1990, for a wing-walking position, thinkingit would be fun. She
was a contract employee who worked as a FederalAviation Administration budget analyst, the FAA said.In one
post on Wicker’s site, the stuntwoman explains what she loved most about her job."Thereis nothing that
feels more exhilarating or freer to me than the windand sky rushing by me as the earth rolls around my
head," the post says."I’m alive up there. To soar like a bird and touch the sky puts me in aplace
where I feel I totally belong. It’s the only thing I’ve done thatI’ve never questioned, never hesitated
about and always felt was mydestiny."She also answered a question she said she got frequently: What
about the risk?"Ifeel safer on the wing of my airplane than I do driving to theairport," she
wrote. "Why? Because I’m in control of those risks and notat the mercy of those other drivers."A
program for the air showtouted Wicker as a performer of "heart-stopping" feats who did movesthat
"no other wing walker is brave enough to try.""Wing ridingis not for this damsel; her wing
walking style is the real thing," theprogram said. "With no safety line and no parachute, Jane
amazes thecrowd by climbing, walking, and hanging all over her beautiful …aircraft."Spectators are
sure to gasp as this daredevil demonstrates in true form the unbelievable art of wing walking," it
says.On the video of the crash, an announcer narrates as Wicker’s plane glides through the air."Keepan
eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker,sitting on top of the world," the
announcer said, right before the planemakes a quick turn and nosedive.Some spectators said they knew
something was wrong because the plane was flying low and slow.Thanh Tran, of Fairfield, said he could see a
look of concern on Wicker’s face just before the plane went down."Shelooked very scared," he said.
"Then the airplane crashed on the ground.After that, it was terrible, man … very terrible."In
2011,wing walker Todd Green fell 200 feet to his death at an air show inMichigan while performing a stunt in
which he grabbed the skid of ahelicopter.In 2007, veteran stunt pilot Jim LeRoy was killed atthe Dayton show
when his biplane slammed into the runway whileperforming loop-to-loops and caught fire.Still, King said, in
thefour decades since Flying Circus started, many kids have been soinspired watching the show that they
later became military andcommercial pilots."Our show takes them back to the barnstormingera of air
shows," he said. "It’s amazing how many people have taken upaviation careers because of their
first exposure to the Flying Circus."