It is with sadness that we are reporting the one of the Geico Skytyper SNJ T6 Texans went down in Melville on Long Island New York. The pilot, who has not been identified, was fatally injured in the accident. In 2016 we were fortunate to watch this superb formation team display at AirVenture Oshkosh. The unique part of the team’s display is that the six aircraft have smoke systems and they actually type messages in the sky with a computer-controlled smoke system
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. 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, but this performance is unlikely to take place.
Officials said the plane ‘broke apart’ before impacting terrain. A witness, 21-year-old student pilot Al Alami of Queens, New York, was landing at Republic Airport when he saw the accident airplane ‘spiralling 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.’ The other five Skytyper aircraft were in the air at the time of the accident.
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