SANTA PAULA : Service, Flyover to Honor Dead Pilots
Twenty-five planes will participate in three flyovers Sunday at Santa Paula Airport--at least one in the form of a cross--to honor two men who died last week in a midair collision at the airport.
Lee Manelski, 46, of Santa Paula and David Tomlinson, 18, of Thousand Oaks died Feb. 13 when their Pitts aerobatic plane tried to evade a Bell JetRanger helicopter while both aircraft were taking off. Manelski, a TWA pilot and nationally ranked aerobatic flier, was giving Tomlinson lessons in the sport when the crash occurred.
The memorial service is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday in Manelski’s hangar at the airport, said Perry Schreffler, one of the organizers. Friends and families of both men are expected to attend the service, he said.
Manelski’s parents--Frank Manelski and Dale O’Brien--and two sisters are all scheduled to attend. Lee Manelski’s three children also are expected to attend.
Former students of his son and members of the U.S. aerobatic flight team are expected to be there as well, Frank Manelski said.
“‘He had a wide circle of friends,” Frank Manelski said.
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