Staff Reporter
A SPANISH pilot died on Sunday after the plane he was flying crashed into another at an air show in Beja, in the south of Portugal.
The victim was a member of the Yakstars aerobatics team, which is made up of Spanish and Portuguese pilots, according to Spanish press reports.
The tragic accident happened at the Beja AirShow festival, according to a statement released by the Portuguese Air Force.
The show was immediately halted after the crash took place.
The pilot of the other plane, a Portuguese national, was left with mild injuries in the crash. He was treated by medical teams on site and was taken to the Beja area hospital ‘as a precaution’, the Air Force statement said.
The accident took place at 3.05pm local time (Portugal is one hour behind Spain).
The causes of the crash are under investigation.
Yakstars is one of the biggest civil aviation aerobatics teams in the south of Europe and one of the biggest in the world, according to the Cadena SER radio network. It is based in Casarrubios in Spain, as well as Ponte de Sort in Portugal.
