Two pilots died in a collision between two planes on Saturday evening on the outskirts of Gera, Germany.
According to a spokesman for the fire brigade, the casualties are two aerobatic pilots who collided in the air with their planes near the Leumnitz airfield.
The planes crashed after the collision over an open area, the fire department said. There were no other deaths or injuries. According to their own statements, the police and fire brigade were in action with a large contingent. The area around the crash site near the airfield was cordoned off.
Review of the accident video shows that the pilots first conducted a hammerhead maneuver. The second maneuver was suppose to be half loop up and remain inverted and fly across to the other side of the airshow box inverted. It appears that the #2 airplane got slow inverted and rolled upright to avoid the stall. Once he did that, he may have temporarily lost sight of the #1 lead airplane.
Then #2 hit #1. Both airplanes got stuck and fell into the ground, they both struck the ground (together) at low speed and burst into flames.
