Pilot Fatally Injured In The Accident

One of the Geico Skytyper SNJ aircraft has gone down in Melville on Long Island, NY. The pilot, who has not been identified, was fatally injured in the accident.

Air Show News reports that the plane had just departed from Republic Airport in East Farmingdale. The airport is the summer home of the Skytyper team between airshows, according to the report.

A post-impact fire ensued, which authorities say was extinguished in about 10 minutes.

The team was scheduled to perform at the NAS Pax River Air Expo in Patuxent River, MD this weekend. That performance is unlikely to take place.

Newsday reports that the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said the plane "broke apart" before impacting terrain.

A witness, 21-year-old student pilot Al Alami of Queens, NY, was landing at Republic Airport when he saw the accident airplane "spiraling downward". He said his instructor pointed out the fire on the ground.

In a recordings from Air Traffic Control obtained from ATC.net, a controller said "I believe we just saw somebody go down." Other Skytyper aircraft were in the air at the time of the accident.

Additional images are available at the FMI links below.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report, Original report