Sunday, September 2, 2012

Pilot killed in Iowa air show crash

A member of the Hoppers Flight Jet Team, takes off from the Davenport Municipal Airport in Mt. Joy, Iowa., Saturday, September 1, 2012, for a demonstration flight with two other L-39's at the Quad-City Air Show. A plane that was part of an air show in eastern Iowa has crashed, and authorities say the pilot was killed. (AP Photo/The Quad City Times, Kevin E. Schmidt) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; MOLINE DISPATCH OUT

A member of the Hoppers Flight Jet Team, takes off from the Davenport Municipal Airport in Mt. Joy, Iowa., Saturday, September 1, 2012, for a demonstration flight with two other L-39's at the Quad-City Air Show. A plane that was part of an air show in eastern Iowa has crashed, and authorities say the pilot was killed. (AP Photo/The Quad City Times, Kevin E. Schmidt) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; MOLINE DISPATCH OUT

Emergency crews look over the scene after an L-39 jet crashed killing the pilot during the Quad-City Air Show in Mt. Joy, Iowa, Saturday September 1, 2012. A plane that was part of an air show in eastern Iowa has crashed, and authorities say the pilot was killed. (AP Photo/The Quad City Times, Kevin E. Schmidt) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; MOLINE DISPATCH OUT

A fiery piece of a L-39 jet plane, catapults away from the main fireball, Saturday, September 1, 2012, after it crashed during the Quad-City Air Show in Mt. Joy, Iowa, Saturday September 1, 2012. A plane that was part of an air show in eastern Iowa has crashed, and authorities say the pilot was killed. (AP Photo/The Quad City Times, Kevin E. Schmidt) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; MOLINE DISPATCH OUT

Two of the members of the Hoppers Flight Jet Team make a pass by spectators during the Quad-City Airshow in Mt. Joy, Iowa, Saturday September 1, 2012. A plane that was part of an air show in eastern Iowa has crashed, and authorities say the pilot was killed. (AP Photo/The Quad City Times, Kevin E. Schmidt) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; MOLINE DISPATCH OUT

(AP) ? A pilot was killed when his plane crashed during an air show in eastern Iowa, authorities said Saturday.

The Soviet-era retired military jet was performing in the Quad-City Air Show in Davenport when the crash occurred, the Quad-City Times reported (http://bit.ly/PUj1zO ). Authorities said the jet was flying in formation with other jets when it failed to pull out of a 45-degree bank and crashed into a field north of Interstate 80 around 1:25 p.m. Saturday.

Assistant Davenport Police Chief Don Schaeffer did not identify the pilot, but said he was not from Davenport.

Schaeffer said at a news conference that the plane flew directly into the ground.

"He never had an opportunity to come out of it," he said.

Nobody on the ground was hurt, but crowds watching the show saw the plane go down and erupt in flames.

Davenport police and federal investigators planned to comb the field Saturday for widely scattered wreckage from the plane.

Schaeffer estimated parts of the plane were strewn over an area up to 220 yards, or a tenth of a mile.

Schaeffer said he had no information about what may have caused the crash. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration were at the scene, but they did not take part in the news conference.

The crash investigation was expected to resume Sunday morning, Schaeffer said.

___

Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-02-US-Iowa-Air-Show-Crash/id-9d46edbb591141358391e67da9a29c60

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