Plane Crash At California Air Show Kills Pilot

[May 05, 2014]  SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - An airplane crashed during an air show at Travis Air Force Base in California on Sunday, killing its 77-year-old pilot and forcing a shutdown of the show, a spokesman for the base said.

The vintage PT-17 biplane piloted by civilian Eddie Andreini went down shortly after 2 p.m., the base posted on its website.

Base spokesman Airman Bryan Swink said that the pilot was performing an aerobatic maneuver when the aircraft went down. He did not say whether anyone else was on the plane.

Andreini lived in the coastal California community of Half Moon Bay, the Air Force said.

Audience members who had taken video or photos of the accident were asked to provide them to investigators.

Travis Air Force Base is 47 miles northeast of San Francisco in Fairfield, California.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Sandra Maler, Eric Walsh and Michael Perry)

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