B-17 Crash Raises Questions About Safety-- Part 2: A Fiery Crash Killed Seven

But a deadly crash in Connecticut last week of the same B-17 that Gloria Bouillon rode in has cast a pall over the band of brothers and sisters who enjoy riding in vintage planes and raised questions of whether machinery over 70 years old should be flying passengers.

The propeller driven 1945 bomber crashed Oct. 2 at the Hartford airport, killing seven of 13 people aboard after a pilot reported engine trouble on takeoff.  The cause of the fiery wreck is under investigation.

Arthur Alan Wolk, a lawyer who specializes in crash litigation in Philadelphia, said Friday that the accident shows the risks associated with flying old planes:  They break.

He said the rules for operating vintage aircraft are stringent, but he questioned whether compliance and training are adequate.

"No one alive ever flew or maintained one of these aircraft in service," he wrote in a blog post.

--GreGen