Talk about fate.
At Fairchild AFB, Washington in 1987, a KC-135 tanker jet crashed after getting caught in the wake turbulence of a B-52 bomber. The two aircraft were flying together and performing practice for a demonstration that was going to happen at an upcoming airshow. The demo would be a low-level aerial fueling flyby to show the public. During the practice, the KC-135 was to maneuver from behind and above the -52 and pass it to get ahead and above it, so the B-52 could fall in trail. That was the best way to effect a rejoin prior to passing the crowd. During the maneuver (again, practice over the field), the KC-135 got a little low in it's turn behind the B-52 and hit it's wake, causing it to roll over and impact the ground on the airfield perimeter road, killing the 4 crewmembers onboard, as well as one person on the ground.
Now here's the fate part. A few hours prior to the takeoff, the KC-135 navigator wasn't feeling well with blocked sinuses. He thought he might have been able to shake it off, but a few hours prior, determined that he was better off dropping out of the flight and going to see the flight doc at the clinic instead, a wise decision. He was replaced by another navigator for the flight. The one person killed on the ground, was the navigator who had taken himself off the flight. He was driving around the perimeter road heading to the base hospital in order to see the flight doc and get medicine....when the out of control KC-135 crashed into his car and killed him........again, the only person to die on the ground.
