[BlueLion]

see sig quote

[BMWE90]

very sad indeed. My condolences to their families.

[Roowah]

This is one of the main reasons I'm a firm believer that newly licensed & inexperienced drivers should not be given a powerful vehicle as this to drive. There's too much temptation to do something stupid and dangerous.

Many kids that age have a sense of immortality and aren't mature enough to see the consequences of such foolish actions. I hate to say it, but luckily they did this on a private runway with really no one else around, except for the possibility of an aircraft taking off or landing - imagine that tragedy if they had collided! If they had done this on the street a lot of innocent people could've been hurt/killed as well.

[BMW335icDDS]

Man, they kinda deserved it. Do stupid shit, you get a stupid result.

[gundamfans]

Condolences to their families.

Driving at high speeds requires proper training. No matter how many safety features the car have, at high speeds and crash, you will die. Feel very sorry for the families.

[BayAreaE92]

Call me stupid, but I simply don't understand...Did they drive off an elevated Airstrip?...did they drive off the side? Was there an unseen ramp or slope?

[Richwm]

Originally Posted by BayAreaE92

Call me stupid, but I simply don't understand...Did they drive off an elevated Airstrip?...did they drive off the side? Was there an unseen ramp or slope?

Here is a picture, maybe it will help you understand.

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Originally Posted by Revlis

Bummer...

But I guess if you are going to go out...


Go out with a BANG.


It pisses me off though when some dipshit out screwing around kills four other people... Sucks.

+1

[DBville]

Originally Posted by BayAreaE92

Call me stupid, but I simply don't understand...Did they drive off an elevated Airstrip?...did they drive off the side? Was there an unseen ramp or slope?

Apparently a berm at the end of the strip, they hit it at speed, and flew 200', crashing into a tree near the house under the "o" in Accident Location on the aerial photo above.

[dmz]

Sounds like they ran out of runway and crashed and burned. If you have never experienced driving high speed it can be deceiving on how fast you are going and before you know it you can cover more ground than you expected and notknow when to start braking.

[Robert]

Yea God works in mysterious ways. Explain this one.

[sandyeggo325i]

Originally Posted by Biostockman

What a waste...

of an awesome car!!

[Robert]

Clearly it's BMW's fault for not installing automatic braking algorithms. As well as automatic steering and throttle control. A machine can do it faster than human can just like automatic is now better than manual ;-)

[jcolley]

It appears that it was an M5 and was possibly owned by a member of M5Board.com...

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=111545

[Majikthese42]

Originally Posted by bobbo

Clearly it's BMW's fault for not installing automatic braking algorithms. As well as automatic steering and throttle control. A machine can do it faster than human can just like automatic is now better than manual ;-)

No doubt the lawsuits will begin flying on Monday.

No doubt BMW will be named.

[T Bone]

Unfortunately it looks like it was M5board member AmericanM5 who recently got the M5 and was learning about it. He traded from a 335i (was Josh a member here??)

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=111454

You can read his posts, up until yesterday.....

Wow...I am pretty affected by this as it really hits close to home.....

If you look at safe events like Gustav's airfield runs, people are sober, there is lighting and there are clear brake points.

My sincere condolences to the 5 families.

[Majikthese42]

http://www.ocala.com/article/2008012.../BREAKING_NEWS

(Updated at 8:15 p.m.) ANTHONY - A Florida Highway Patrol captain says alcohol appears to have played a role in the vehicle crash early Saturday morning that claimed the lives of five young Marion County men at the Greystone airstrip adjacent to Jumbolair Aviation Estates.

FHP Capt. Jeffrey Succi said Saturday evening that the crash appears to have been alcohol-related but that will not be certain until toxicology tests come back.

Succi said it appears the victims had been at a party in the hours before the crash. He said FHP officials were still in the process of interviewing people.

The FHP identified the five friends as Jacob James Casey, 19, 4245 SW 20th Ave., Ocala; James Devon Hime, 19, 10660 NE 47th Ave., Ocala; Joshua D. Ammirato, 18, of Fairfield, Dustin J. Dawe, 19, 13040 NW 80th St. Rd., Fairfield; and Isaac Rubin, 20, 45 Pecan Run Pass, Ocala.

All five were pronounced dead at the scene.

Ammirato was driving his father's gray 2008 BMW. The $80,000 car was traveling north on Runway 36, a 1.5-mile long airstrip that actor John Travolta and others regularly use.

Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Jeff Succi said said there were yaw marks at the end of the runway, indicating that the car turned sideways before launching over an embankment. It then sailed through the air about 200 feet before slamming into a large tree.

They believe it traveled over the 80- to 85-foot embankment at the end of the airstrip and struck the tree about 15 feet above the ground. The car broke into two pieces upon impact.

Three of victims were ejected. Two were partially ejected, FHP offcials said. It is not yet known whether any or all of the victims were wearing seat belts.

The accident was reported to Marion County Fire Rescue at 3:47 a.m. All five were pronounced dead between 3:55 and 3:56 a.m. by Marion County Fire and Rescue paramedics at the scene.

The vehicle came to rest in flames near the home of Augustine and Kristina Berenguer in the 1400 block of Northeast 95th Street. The BMW was completely demolished in the crash.

The Berenguers were awakened by a bang and saw flames through a window. They said the nearby crash shook their house.

Augustine Berenguer went outside to see what had happened and shouted back for his wife to call 911.

George Borger, who lives next to the airstrip, said he awoke to the sound of car engines at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

"I saw them going up and down the runway," he said. "They were flying."

Add whoever supplied the alcohol to the lawsuits.

[Netcub]

The guy that got killed posted this...a day before he died... (from the m5board forums)

M5froth I completley understand where you are coming from assuming that I am irresponsible..that is definetly understandable. I do sometimes make bad decisions but I am young and I do drive safe and I will not endanger the lives of others..and I hope you are not under the impression that I am the one to brag, I have never been that way and never will. Plus I will have pictures up asap with me in the pictures. I have no reason to lie buddy.

Snowball, thanks again buddy and I will try that soon.

M5baller, I will admit I was not aware that it wasnt a good idea to have m-mode set the way I did...My dealer did not tell me anything about it, when I took the test drive my salesmen had it set on the highest levels and told me it was fine. Even the mechanic said it was fine and that the only thing I really had to worry about was getting the services done on time. I know the salesmen pretty well as a friend and he has no reason to lie to me...plus like I said above the mechanic said there is no problem with it at all.... But I do understand where you guys are coming from, but I just want to be apart of the community and learn stuff just like you guys..

so take care

Josh

[HyperM3]

You know what? Im going to keep my mouth shut and not say everything Im thinking(granted nothing stopped me before).

However he said this just yesterday in one of his posts "yeah that is the problem when im going pedal to the metal pushing 140 and upshifting there tends to be thud noise with the gear change".

I dont care what you drive and how good a driver you think you are. If youre under 25, you dont know shit about car control. Let this be a lesson to all of you who think you are mad cool in your 335(or M or whatever) and brag about hitting the limiter or for that matter, want to know how to "remove the limiter on piggybacks".

You are nothing but wet behind the ears prepubescent driver. Yes, this situation is sad, but its completely foreseeable.

[jadeddjay]

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=111545

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=111454

[Bob T]

Wow, this is just so sad. It really hit home to read some of his recent posts and then see the tragic end.

It is really tough with younger people (guess that makes me old). They have better eye sight, eye/hand coordination, and other physical abilities that are greater then when we age. But, lacking time in the saddle or behind the wheel along with a lack of some wisdom that comes with experience there are too many tragedies. Alcohol, inexperienced driver, ultra performance vehicle, friends in vehicle. Sad, so sad.

[sparkyg]

What a waste.

A tragic lesson about the danger of speed, be it an 18 year old or a 40 year old.

People, please all be careful out there, lets all be smart about staying alive.

Condolences to the families. RIP