Two aircrafts participating at the Aero GP event in Marsamxett crashed into the sea at the entrance of the harbour at around 1200CEST. One of the pilots, Irishman Eddie Goggins was rescued immediately by AFM personnel and is uninjured. The other pilot, Swedish man Gabor Vargas also known as "the wild one", died. During the first lap of the first race the Yak-55 piloted by Vargas collided with the Extra 200 piloted by Goggins. The organisers have given no explanation regarding the cause of the crash. Gabor Varga hails from Sweden and was representing Scandinavia in the Grand Prix. Varga won the title of Swedish champion and Nordic Aerobatic Champion many times and was a Guiness World Record holder for performing 256 aerobatic loops within an hour. Eddie Goggins is one of the Ireland's most accomplished aerobatic pilots. Goggins is 36 years old and has been flying aeroplanes since he was 18. He has been involved in aerobatics for the last 12 years and has been a flying instructor for 4- and-a-half years. He has accumulated 1,500 hrs in aeroplanes and helicopters. The Aero-GP has been cancelled. This is the first time ever that a sport of this type has taken place, too bad it turned out like this... I am from Malta and I am telling you that I saw this pilot in action <S> guys..
CC I think so too.. It happend so fast, the spectators tought it was part of the show.. But I saw the tail fly off, and I knew he was going straight down and BAM! It happend to me in WB.. but that was real :/ Varga was still in his straps 2 minutes under water when the divers reached him.. He died a few seconds after impact due to his big wounds..
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0910/plane.html Another viewpoint. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. I think the investment of a zero-zero ejection seat wouldn't be a bad idea. The Swede came from behind, inside and high to knock the empanage right off the Irish guy's plane. I guess he thought he had more room or just misjudged the slip angle.....
