A South African pilot was today killed after his aerobatic aircraft plummeted to the ground during a flight show in northwest China’s Gansu Province, the event organiser said.
Paul Smith died in the crash at the 1st Silk Road International General Aviation Convention held at the Danxia airport in the city of Zhangye, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the organiser.
A video clip provided by a spectator showed that the plane lost control while making a dive and crashed into the Gobi desert about 100 metres from the airport runway.
The crash caused no other casualties on the ground.
The US aerobatic flight team that Smith worked for has cancelled all flights. Other aerobatic flights went as scheduled this afternoon.