Paul Lopez Was Scheduled To Perform At Titusville Show

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 03.09.09 1500 EDT (UPDATED 2330 EDT): Aero-News has monitored reports throughout the day of a fatal plane crash in Pasco County, Florida... and has learned an up-and-coming airshow performer is among the victims.

The Tampa Tribune reports Paul Lopez, 40, took off in his MX-2 aerobatic plane with an unidentifed passenger from Zephyrhills Municipal Airport (ZPH) just after 12 pm EDT. Authorities received calls about a plane crash about 10 miles north of the airport at 12:21 pm.

"He just fueled up here and took off," said Nancy Morin, an assistant at the airport. Officials have not released the identity of the second person onboard the plane, though Lopez's family told the St. Petersburg Times the passenger was a teen from a local high school who was an aspiring pilot.

A loan officer by trade until he was let go four months ago, Lopez owned Aerobatic Activities Inc. and had performed at events around the country. According to an online profile, Lopez competed intermittently since 1998, and began flying airshows in 2006.

His web site states he purchased the MX-2 (believed to be the same aircraft shown below) in January 2007. His next scheduled performance was to be at next weekend's Valiant Air Command Warbird Airshow in Titusville.

Witnesses said they often saw Lopez practicing over orange groves in the area. "He cuts the engine off all the time," recounted Larry Englert. "I heard him try to restart it, but it sounded like the engine just wouldn't restart. Then I heard the crash."

"He did two loop-de-loops then leveled off," witness Nadine Sheehan added. "Then he went straight up in the air, over the cloud and came back down. He started spinning and went straight down. The plane just burst into flames. They didn't have a chance."

ANN will update this story as more information becomes available.

FMI: www.paullopezairshows.com