Stunt pilot killed in air show crash
The pilot of a civilian Second World War stunt plane was killed today when he crashed while practising for an air show, US officials said.
Jan Wildbergh, the flight leader with the Skytypers Air Show Team, died following the crash at the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia, Geico Insurance said in a statement. The company sponsors the team.
Mr Wildbergh trained with the Dutch Air Force where he flew first-generation jet fighters during the Cold War, the statement said. He moved to the US to pilot private aircraft, ran a flight school and joined Skytypers in 1986.
Larry Arken, the team’s deputy squadron commander, said the squadron had just finished rehearsing its air show routine and the planes were coming in for a landing when the No 6 plane, the last in the formation, crashed.
Mr Arken was flying first so he did not see the plane go down. But he said he heard from witnesses that it flew into the ground while still under its own power.
The aircraft had no ejection system, and the pilot was flying too low to use his parachute, team member Ralph Roberts told WAVY-TV in Portsmouth.
“He probably tried to continue to make the manoeuvre and save the plane, possibly by doing a belly flop,” Mr Roberts said.
The Skytypers Air Show Team performs at shows across the country, often doing low-level flying manoeuvres and creating aerial smoke messages, called skytyping, according to its website.
