The pilot of an Aero Vodochody L-39C Albatros privately owned jet, tail number N139GS, died in the fiery crash of the aircraft during the 26th Quad-City Air Show in Mt. Joy, Iowa on Saturday, September 1, 2012 at 1:25 p.m. local time, as reported by the Aviation Safety Network, the New York Daily News, The Kansas City Star, the Daily Mail, and other media sources.
The victim was identified as 59-year-old Glenn Allen Smith, of Frisco, Texas, who was also CEO of the Warbird Educational Foundation, which owned the Soviet-era jet he was flying.
The 1984 single-engine plane had taken off from Davenport Municipal Airport (DVN), and was flying in formation with two other jets when it failed to pull out of a 45-degree bank to the right and crashed into an alfalfa field north of Interstate 80, creating a massive fireball.
Thousands of spectators at the annual event, the largest air show in Iowa, witnessed the fatal accident.
The Quad-City Air Show has been held since 1987. It is ranked in the top 10 of similar aviation-related events in the U.S. This year the show was hosting the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nev. The theme of this year's aerial performances was "Dream Teams of Aviation, the Best of the Best."
Past precision flight teams at the air show have included the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the Canadian Snowbirds, and The Masters of Disaster.
According to Assistant Davenport Police Chief Don Schaeffer, the pilot had no opportunity to escape from the plane, which left parts of the aircraft scattered over nearly 700 feet of farmland.
The police officer expressed the goal of protecting the crash site, saying, "There are literally hundreds of pieces of debris scattered across the field. We want to collect and catalog each piece so that if the FAA or some other investigating body wants to rebuild the plane, they can do it."
Both the FAA and the NTSB will be investigating the accident. There is early speculation that the pilot may have lost consciousness during the maneuver, and was unable to regain control of the plane before it flew into the ground.
The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer developed in Czechoslovakia. The aircraft was first introduced in 1971. About 2,800 of the legendary planes were produced between 1971 and 1999 at a relatively low unit cost of $200,000 to $300,000.
It was the first of the second-generation jet trainers, and the first turbofan-powered trainer manufactured. The aircraft was used primarily by the Soviet Air Force, and those of Czechoslovakia, Libya, Syria, and Thailand, as well as about 47 other military and civilian operators.
The aircraft has been featured in several motion pictures including the 2005 film "Lord of War", the 1997 James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies", and the 2010 movie "Speed Kills".
The L-39C is powered by an Ivchenko AI-25TL turbofan jet engine. It has a never exceed speed of 609 miles an hour, a maximum speed of 466 miles an hour, a range of up to 1,087 miles using external fuel tanks, a service ceiling of 36,100 feet, and a rate of climb of 4,130 feet per minute.
We offer our sincere condolences to the family of the pilot, and others who were impacted by this tragedy.
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