Tragedy marked the opening of a new general aviation airport in north central China. Michel Leusch, of South Africa, failed to recover from a dive during a performance at the first Silk Road International General Aviation Convention held at Danxia Airport on Saturday. The airport opened Friday and the convention was held to celebrate the opening. Other performances went ahead as scheduled. Leusch was flying an XA42 show plane and video showed him climb steeply before diving vertically into the Gobi Desert.
Leusch was a new member of the Firestars Aerobatic Team, which is sponsored by Red Bull China (not affiliated with Red Bull International). It’s not clear if he was doing a solo performance or whether it was part of the team routine but the video shows only one aircraft. The Firestars are based in China and performed at various shows in China this summer. Leusch was the World Intermediate Aerobatics champion in 2014.
