ATLANTA, May 14 (UPI) — A stunt show pilot was killed Saturday when his biplane crashed in front of horrified spectators attending an air show near Atlanta.
The incident happened at the Peachtree-DeKalb Airport outside Atlanta on Saturday afternoon. The pilot, who police have not identified, executed a low-to-the-ground pass with another biplane, then shot up in the air.
Police said the pilot was likely not able to pull out of the ensuing nosedive due to windy conditions.
Police said the pilot, who was participating in the Good Neighbor Day Stunt Show, is from Augusta, Ga. Video of the incident was posted to YouTube by an onlooker, Juan Rios.
“We were commenting about the amount of training that the pilots have to go through and then I started making the joke about the communication between the pilots,” Rios told NBC News. “Then I just became speechless.”
The video, which CNN edited to remove the moment of impact, shows the plane plummeting to the ground, then the wreckage in flames.
Another onlooker, Starr Jones of Atlanta, told WSB-TV, the ABC affiliate there, said the moment stunned the crowd.
“It happened right in front of where I was standing. It was awful,” Jones said. “The announcer said, ‘A plane has crashed. Please cover your children’s eyes and turn away.'”
WSB reported investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene Saturday afternoon to begin their official investigation.
