Local TV Exec Shaken After Capturing Tragic Air Show Death

A local public access TV executive is still shaken after capturing a wing walker plunge 200 feet to his death at Sunday's air show at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township.

Community Media Network executive director Jay Wiencko was at Selfridge during the air show, filming and taking still shots of the action and daredevil tricks when stuntman and wing walker Todd Green attempted to move from an airplane to a helicopter. He was balancing on the wing of the plane trying to grab onto a strap on the chopper but fell. Witnesses describe the accident as "surreal."

Wiencko followed the event out of "instinct to follow the action" from his video training.

"You knew as soon as he fell off the plane it wasn't going to end well," the Rochester Hills  man said.

Wiencko was back at his job at CMN on Monday, trying to get back to some kind of normal life. CMN is the nonprofit public access TV station for Royal Oak, Auburn Hills, Berkley, Clawson, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, Oakland Township, Pleasant Ridge, Rochester, Rochester Hills and Troy and trains individuals in television production.

Wiencko was still distraught less than 24 hours after the event. "I didn't have to see that," he said. "I felt sick to my stomach, and I had to stop several times, squat down and catch my breath. It was tough to sort it all out."

In 1994, Wiencko attended his first air show at Selfridge—and witnessed a plane crash.

"I haven't gone to too many since then," he said. "This was probably my fourth one. But I had the same gut-wrenching feeling in '94 all over again. It's just such a sudden transition from being entertained to devastated and horrified."

Weincko, like the thousands of others at the event, just wanted a relaxing time. "I just went out for a recreational afternoon," he said. "I enjoy shooting video and still shots as a hobby, and I like air shows."

After Sunday's tragedy, Wiencko packed up his equipment and started his journey away from the scene. He didn't know exactly what to do, but he knew he needed to get away.

"I said a lot of things out loud. I was very upset. I couldn't believe it," he said. "God, it was awful. It just didn't have to happen. Why, for entertainment's sake, did that outcome have to happen?"

Wiencko didn't even want to see his footage. "I was not interested in looking at it," he said. "I felt very sorry. It's very complex, and it was such an awful feeling that I knew I had to leave. I just didn't know where to go. I wanted to take my mind off of what I had seen. I seriously wanted to get it out of my head."

He texted a friend about what had happened. The friend, who works at Fox 2 Detroit affiliate WJBK, asked him to bring in the footage.

The "new assignment" actually started to get Wiencko's focus and mind off the event and into his business of video production. "The chance to channel it into a way I was familiar with worked," he said. 

Wiencko got the footage to Channel 2 and was interviewed for its 6 p.m. newscast—not something he was looking for.

"It wasn't a big thrill to be on the news," he said. "But I watch enough news to know that these are the opportunities they take advantage of because that's what they do. But being in that role I was in was not entirely comfortable. It was just the best option I had to take my mind off of it."

Wiencko said it was the last air show he'll attend. "I don't think air shows are all that worthwhile anymore," he said. "If people want to see, maybe, military aircraft fly, that's one thing. But the aerobatics and stunts where people risk their lives is just not worth it anymore."

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