Fearless Top Gun Flight Instructor Dies in Plane Crash During Air Show

new mexico - A tragic incident occurred as a flight instructor, who trained actors for the movie Top Gun: Maverick, lost his life in a small plane crash during an air show in New Mexico.

Charles Thomas 'Chuck' Coleman, the sole person aboard the two-seater Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 monoplane, tragically crashed at around 14:30 local time on Sunday. Coleman was performing aerial stunts when the accident happened during the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo at Las Cruces International Airport. The air show was canceled following the crash.

According to Coleman's website, he resided in California and was an engineer, stunt, and test pilot with over 10,000 flight hours. His website also mentioned that he had appeared in hundreds of air shows and completed over 3,000 flights in aerobatic planes.

As an instructor for actors in Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, he conducted more than 100 flights to prepare the cast for the US Navy's F-18 Hornets.