Air show disaster in Iowa was caught on tape this weekend which saw the death of a pilot and the National Transportation Safety Board said they are investigating the cause of the crash.
Glenn Smith died Saturday when his nearly 30-year-old training plane nosedived during an air show in eastern Iowa and crashed into a field, authorities said, according to the Associated Press. Spectators watched the 59-year-old Smith's plane erupt into flames, followed by a cloud of gray smoke. Nobody on the ground was hurt.
A home video captured the pilots going into a complicated maneuver, switching places mid-air and "passing within inches of each other" before a dive straight down.
"He went down into the ground and he burst into flames... I was instantly in tears because I knew more than likely he didn't survive," a witness told ABC news.
Assistant Davenport Police Chief Don Schaeffer told the AP that the pilot "never had an opportunity to come out of it."
The smoking wreckage of the Soviet L-39 jet was found in a nearby alfalfa field.
Smith was a longtime technology entrepreneur whose company was acquired by Tyler Technologies, a Dallas-based company that develops software for local schools and government clients, in 1998. He remained an executive at Tyler until 2006, the company said in a statement.
On Sunday, a squadron of planes flew over the crash site in the "missing man" formation before the air show continued. Randy Ball, a good friend of Smith's, told The Associated Press that the deceased pilot was a meticulous flier who would map every step of a flight plan beforehand.
Smith left a lucrative job at a Dallas-area technology firm for an early retirement of restoring Soviet fighter jets and flying to exhibitions across the country. Smith was also the newest member of the "Hoppers," according to the team's website. The Hoppers are a group of pilots who privately maintain and fly L-39 fighter jets at air shows and other exhibitions.
