NEW YORK: An aerobatic pilot crashed and died in upstate New York on Friday while practising stunts in a propeller plane ahead of a weekend air show, police said.
The accident happened at about 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor in the scenic Hudson Valley, on the eve of the New York Air Show.
"It appeared the aircraft had experienced a structural failure," a New York State Police spokesman told AFP.
The show, scheduled Saturday and Sunday at Stewart, is to feature demonstrations from civilian and military performers, including by Navy SEAL Leap Frogs, a parachute team.
The crash comes a week after up to 11 people were killed when a vintage military plane crashed onto a busy road in Britain near the Shoreham air show on the south coast of England