 photo by John Plassenthal |
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Award-winning aerobatic pilot Jim LeRoy died Saturday when his Pitts Special crashed during a performance at the Dayton (Ohio) Air Show. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, LeRoy, 46, was in one of two aircraft making loops when his biplane hit the runway at an angle and slid about 300 yards before catching on fire. First responders arrived in less than a minute, and firefighters quickly extinguished the flames. LeRoy was cut out of his Pitts airplane, but he died en route to Miami Valley Hospital. The rest of the airshow performance, which included a finale by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, was canceled following the accident.
