Swedish Record-Holder Was In Aero GP Competition

Swedish aerobatics champion, Gabor Varga, was killed off the coast of Malta, when his airplane, a Yak-55, collided with an Extra 200 piloted by Irishman Eddie Goggins. 

The aircraft were participating in the Aero GP Grand Prix, a flying competition which is a combination air race, simulated dogfight, target bombing, and generalized aerobatics meet. There were eight teams entered from around the world.

Witnesses report that both aircraft were in a climbing turn away from the harbor of the capital city of Valletta when Varga evidently lost altitude for unknown reasons.

Goggins' plane appears to have clipped the tail of the Yak and the entire empennage separated from the fuselage. Varga's plane plunged almost instantly into the ocean in full view of the spectators. Divers recovered his body within two minutes, according to the Times of Malta.

Goggins was able to nurse his damaged plane into a climb for a few seconds, enough to bail out before it, too, hit the water. He was rescued almost immediately by Maltese patrol boats. He appeared to be uninjured.

Gabor Varga, 45, was known as the "Wild One" and is in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing the greatest number of loops in an hour, a total of 256.

The Aero GP Grand Prix was inaugurated last year in Slovenia. The Maltese meet was cancelled immediately after the accident and the harbor has been closed to sea traffic for the investigation.

Two more Aero GP Grand Prix are scheduled to be held this year.

FMI: http://aero-gp.com/